Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Stimulus package roadwork almost finished

After nearly two years of construction, all of the Top of Utah roadwork associated with the 2009 stimulus package is complete. The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was signed into law Feb. 17 of that year and was designed to boost the economy, partly through domestic spending on infrastructure.

As part of the legislation, the state received $213 million to be used on state and local transportation projects. Federal funds were doled out for 124 pavement preservation, bridge rehabilitation and capacity-improvement projects around the state that would not have been completed without the stimulus funding.

The goal was to spread the projects throughout all corners of the state, rapidly use the funds to provide jobs throughout local communities, and repair and replace roads and bridges in critical need. Utah Department of Transportation spokeswoman Tonia Mashburn said that of the 124 statewide projects that received funding from the ARRA, 14 still need to be finished. Ogden Standard-Examiner