From the outbox of Meyer’s inbox:
You know all that rotten news about the economy? Well, now spending on infrastructure projects is taking a nose dive. This is a combination of states not having the funds and voters not wanting to vote for the projects. There might be some stimulus money coming down the pike but it’s going to take a lot more to give our infrastructure the boost it really needs.
SPENDING ON LOCAL PROJECT PLUMMETS by Dennis Cauchon writing for USA Today
States and local governments are slashing spending on schools, roads, offices and other construction projects so fast that even federal stimulus money hasn’t filled in the gap.
Investment in infrastructure is on pace to drop almost 7% this year to $269 billion, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal data. That would be the first decline in state and local construction spending since the Census Bureau started tracking in 1993.
The cuts are driven by several factors, including voters’ reluctance to take on more debt, falling building costs and fewer new residential subdivisions that require roads and other infrastructure.
The stimulus program has helped soften the blow. It will pump $135 billion into state and local construction projects over several years. The types of spending favored in the stimulus bill are booming. Airport spending is up 12%. Mass transit work is up 17%.
SPENDING: Voters just say ‘No’ to initiatives
But the core of infrastructure spending — on schools, sewers, water plants, prisons, fire stations — has experienced sharp drops in nearly every category.
Even spending on roads is down 4% in the first four months of 2010, mostly because cities have cut back on repairs even as stimulus money has boosted new projects.
“It’s easier to postpone building a library than to lay off librarians already on staff,” says Ken Simonson, chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America, a construction industry trade group. “Construction is always vulnerable when spending gets cut.”
Read the rest of the story here.
One Comment
I agree that infrastructure is importatn but there has to be common sense in it. There many road projects that are on the books that are not needed or do not make any sense. Most of them would make the politicians richer. Any infrastrucutre work should be focused on exisitng infrastrucutre that needs upgraded or repaired and not to adding more that would require maintenance and repair.