An early congressional review of economic-stimulus activity in core infrastructure sectors gives generally good marks for federal and state agencies' progress so far. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on April 29 held the first of a planned series of hearings on the stimulus, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It focused only on programs under the panel's jurisdiction, but they include such key sectors as highways, rail and Environmental Protection Agency water programs.
As of March 31, the committee said, work had started on 263 highway and transit projects, totaling $1.1 billion, in 30 states. An additional 101 projects, valued at $100 million, were under contract, and 1,380 highway and transit projects, worth a combined $6.4 billion, in 47 states were out for bid.