With about $131 billion in the federal economic-stimulus package targeted for public construction, a massive amount of money now is flowing to federal and state agencies. Lessons learned from past experiences with big-ticket construction efforts for rebuilding Iraq, responding to Hurricane Katrina and delivering Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel project could keep some of that money from going to waste.
The $787.2-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), signed into law on Feb. 17, is an economic-stimulus package of unprecedented size and scope. Moving projects quickly and creating jobs is key, but so is accountability. For the construction industry there is about $49 billion for transportation projects, $31 billion for energy-related activities, $31 billion for building and related housing and $20 billion for water and environmental effort. “Investments should provide long-term benefits, and the stimulus should maintain strong transparency,” says Brian T. Pallasch, a lobbyist for the American Society of Civil Engineers, Washington, D.C.