"State departments of transportation have proven that these 'ready to go' projects are a great way to put people back work, quickly and efficiently," John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said at a Capitol Hill news conference Wednesday afternoon releasing AASHTO's survey of state DOTs. "We're dedicated to getting these projects out to bid fast, but we're also committed to making certain that every taxpayer dollar is spent wisely."

Horsley joined House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-MN, and House Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-OR, in making the announcement. 

Oberstar said he and House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-WI, are finalizing details on a $100 billion plan to fund extra transportation projects over the next two years. That money could be included in a job-creation package House and Senate Democratic leaders have indicated they want to move by early next year. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-MD, has previously indicated he wanted a jobs bill passed this month. But he said this week that the timetable could slip to January.

Oberstar and DeFazio sent a letter to President Barack Obama on Wednesday imploring him to support additional funding for infrastructure work. Obama held a jobs summit at the White House on Thursday that included Paula Hammond, Washington state transportation secretary. (see related story)

"To offset the continued rise in construction unemployment, the collapse of the private construction market, and state budget crises that limit states' ability to finance highway and transit projects, we must act now to provide additional investments for ready-to-go highway and transit projects," the letter states.

Senate EPW Chairwoman Also Endorses AASHTO Survey, Urges Funding Be Provided

AASHTO presented the survey Wednesday to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-CA, who touted the need to fund these "ready to go" transportation projects.

Boxer said she intends for infrastructure to play a major role in the jobs bill being crafted. Boxer suggested that money to pay for the bill could be taken from unspent funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which the government established last year to bail out failing financial institutions.

She said she'll push Democratic leaders to include roughly the level of investments sought by AASHTO and the American Public Transportation Association, which released its own report Wednesday detailing "ready to go" projects from metropolitan transit authorities. APTA said its survey found more than $15 billion in transit capital projects that could be started within 90 days of funding being provided.

"These are the numbers you can quote," Boxer said. "I'm going to push very hard."

For its survey, AASHTO defined "ready to go" as meaning a project can move through the federal approval process within 120 days of enactment of authorizing legislation, thus enabling a state DOT to proceed toward construction. Wednesday's survey is based on responses from 50 states and the District of Columbia. It includes nearly 7,500 highway and bridge projects valued at more than $47 billion, and more than 2,000 transit, rail, port, aviation, and intermodal projects valued at more than $22 billion. AASHTO's survey is available at downloads.transportation.org/Ready-to-Go.pdf.

"We hope Congress will use this survey to make the case that investments in transportation infrastructure projects are guaranteed to create jobs," Horsley said. "A bright spot of the economic recovery act continues to be state transportation projects that are pumping billions of dollars into households and businesses while fixing our broken transportation network."

Transportation projects received $48 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which Congress enacted in February to help spur economic growth. About $27 billion of that total went to highways and bridges with the remainder to other transportation modes.

"We need to keep the momentum going," Horsley said. "The unemployment rate in the construction trades today exceeds 18 percent. There is still a need to invest more in transportation projects if that's what it takes to create jobs and bring unemployment down. What the state DOTs have done over the past nine months to put economic recovery dollars to work shows there is no better way to create jobs and long-lasting benefits in every part of the country."

Video of AASHTO's news conference with House T&I Committee leaders is available at tinyurl.com/AASHTO-NC120209. Video of the first portion of Boxer's news conference is available at tinyurl.com/BoxerNC120209.