Friends of the Earth has put together a new analysis of 19 states’ requests for transportation projects to be funded as part of the coming stimulus bill. (Hat tip to the excellent Streetsblog network.)
As the FoE analysis shows, states are wildly divergent on the key political question of whether to spend transportation stimulus money on building new roads or repairing existing ones. The House has nothing in its version that would require states to use stimulus cash only on repairs, despite strong sentiments in that direction from Democratic leaders and the American public.
Of the 19 state transportation proposals examined by FoE, Utah is the worst offender, with 97% in proposed spending on new capacity and 3% on repairs. Massachusetts, by contrast, scores a perfect 100% in seeking only stimulus money for road maintenance.
Does anyone think this will make Congress think twice about requiring states to first spend the money on improving existing infrastructure before building shiny new highways?
