Projects totaling $31 billion are either out to bid or under construction during these peak summer construction months, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee reported Monday in advance of an oversight hearing Tuesday morning to examine progress of the U.S. Department of Transportation, state DOTs, and transit authorities in spending recovery dollars.

"As the 2010 construction season has moved into full force, we truly are experiencing a 'summer of recovery' in the transportation sector," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the committee. "By the end of this summer, recovery act funding will have repaired more than 35,000 miles of road, highways, and bridges -- making travel safer and improving mobility for families and commuters everywhere."

Since the recovery act was enacted in February 2009, states and transit agencies have produced real jobs and real improvements to the nation's transportation infrastructure, the committee found. In an otherwise bleak economic picture, transportation jobs have been a reliable source of income for thousands of Americans during the past 17 months.

Employment on recovery act-funded highway and transit projects has been steadily increasing during this second year of implementation. There were 41,155 direct, on-project jobs sustained or created in March, according to data collected by the House T&I Committee. That went up to 47,946 jobs in April, 54,699 in May, and 64,493 in June.

"State departments of transportation have almost 15,000 highway and transit projects underway, and have already spent more than $5 billion on completed projects since the program began," Washington state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond, marketing taskforce chairwoman for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, wrote in a leter this week to state officials across the country. "We are all working quickly, efficiently, and under budget to push projects out the door to obtain maximum economic impact."

Committee leaders said they are pleased with the progress revealed in this latest series of reports, but acknowledge that without a surface transportation reauthorization bill, the large backlog of needed transportation projects will not all be addressed.

"It's breathtaking all the progress we have made," said House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-Minnesota. "We have made a great start on cleaning up and putting America back to work and rebuilding its infrastructure, but I would observe that the 35,000 lane miles we have constructed represents only 4% of the backlog, so we have to move ahead with our six-year long-term investment program."

Private Sector Jobs Being Created by Recovery Act

LaHood and several representatives of the private sector said during Tuesday's hearing that as long as the recovery act's grants are available, the jobs will keep being generated.

"The stimulus money created great value for our customers, our employees, and our subcontractors and suppliers," said Bill Schneider, president and CEO of Knife River Corp., who testified on behalf of the National Stone, Sand, & Gravel Association. "Today, approximately 18% of our construction backlog is stimulus-funded work. Because of ARRA, we have been able to keep many of our employees on the payroll."

Many companies have said that, without recovery projects, they would have been forced to cut jobs. Panelists testified Tuesday that, while the recovery act-funded transportation projects underway have been helpful, more money from a surface transportation reauthorization bill would allow companies to continue hiring back more workers.

"My own company, Northeast Asphalt, is involved with 66 recovery act projects," said Kevin Gannon, vice president of the firm, who testified on behalf of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association. "Due to a more than 50% decline in our private-sector work over the last several years, we have not been able to add new employees. However, our recovery act work has certainly helped us hold on to our existing work force."

Despite the positive effects of the bill, however, panelists reminded the committee that the recovery act was only a one-time stimulus package and when that money runs out, the transportation construction industry will shed numerous jobs as contracts to bid on decline.

Charts prepared by AASHTO showing the monthly increases in recovery act-funded highway and transit construction jobs since March are available at tinyurl.com/arramarjune10. AASHTO's update on recovery act implementation is available at recovery.transportation.org.

Full testimony and video of Tuesday's hearing are available at tinyurl.com/recoveryact-oversight.