President Obama "gets serious" about infrastructure

Is "Recovery Summer" here?

16 months after his $787 billion infrastructure stimulus package was signed into law, President Obama has told the country that it is time "to get serious about [our] infrastructure" dubbing the coming season "Recovery Summer."

While the stimulus may have passed with projects being 'shovel-ready', relatively little has been done in terms of new construction projects, due to the extensive planning stages.

However it appears that time has arrived and the President has a lot on the line due to the country's concerns about extensive spending.

According to an article in the New York Times, stimulus-supported construction is "set to explode this summer" with 10,700 highway projects under way next month, up from just 1,750 last July. There are also plans to weatherize 82,000 homes this summer, 27 times the number of homes that were weatherized last summer, when the program got off to a slow start.

The paper also states that there will be 2,828 clean-water projects under construction, a "twenty-fold increase on last year."

Infrastructure stimulus responsible for economy growth

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Obama stimulus package as being responsible for the growth of the economy in the wake of the global recession, as well as creating new jobs. Last month, it was estimated that 1.2 to 2.8 million jobs had been created so far, however unemployment is still close to 10 percent.

Speaking in Ohio, President Obama stressed that the stimulus package had been to boost job growth, and playing on the Vice-President's infamous profanity-laced comment at the Healthcare Bill signing, said it was "a big .... deal."

The article goes on to state that the summer will see 218 federal buildings under construction, nearly four times the amount last July. The state of California will also see 450 stimulus highway projects under way this summer, up from nine last summer, equating to roughly 29,244 miles of road being improved this summer. This is up from just 9,185 miles last summer. (During the New Deal, by contrast, the far bigger Works Progress Administration was credited with building or fixing 650,000 miles of roads.)

The Obama Administration will be hoping that construction on bridges and roads will not only increase jobs, but assure the American people that their money isn't being wasted.

Relevant articles:

The cost of a crumbling infrastructure | Obama stimulus DID create jobs | US economy grows beyond expectations

Timon Singh

Timon Singh is a graduate of Liverpool University where he received a degree in Social and Economic History. He has previously worked for BBC Magazines on BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, the publication for the popular genealogy show.

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