Eye On Trucking: states say stimulus money barely a drop in the bucket

By LYNDON FINNEY
The Trucker Staff

3/6/2009

The ink from the pens that President Barack Obama used to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was still wet when our inbox received the e-mail from the Department of Transportation.

“Today, President Obama kept faith with the American people. Less than one month after taking the oath of office, he signed the landmark American Recovery and Investment Act. I thank and congratulate President Barack Obama for this impressive and hard-won victory.

“This is the day America starts back. Resources to help America are now available. At the Department of Transportation we will make sure the transportation money in this law gets Americans to work quickly.”

Those were the words of Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood Feb. 17.

And, it didn’t come as a surprise that LaHood’s statement came so quickly.

He’s been working diligently since day one in office to get ready for that moment.

A few days prior, he had met with state transportation officials in Washington to make sure everyone had road projects on the front burner, ready to let to contracts as soon as the stimulus money became available.

According to officials who attended the meeting, all answered in the affirmative.

In fact, Missouri started construction on a bridge project within minutes of the bill signing in Denver.

In addition to helping enhance the nation’s transportation infrastructure, there are at least two other potentially positive aspects to the stimulus money.

First, it will put back to work at least some of the employees who lost their jobs when highway construction projects were postponed or cancelled because of lack of funds.

Second, it should put at least a mild spark back into the trucking industry — especially flatbed carriers — because someone has to transport construction materials to the job sites.

We really liked the last two sentences of LaHood’s statement:

“We at the Department of Transportation are ready to go. I look forward to hearing the sounds of shovels and hammers and bulldozers and, in some case, of moving that first shovelful of dirt myself.”

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With the jubilation, however, we must offer some words of caution.

Anyone who thinks that the stimulus money is going to solve the ills of the highway transportation system in this country is sadly mistaken.

We were able to talk with some state officials who were either at the meeting or were briefed by peers, and while they all are very happy with the money coming from Washington, it’ll only make a dent in the needs of their respective states.

Dan Flowers, the director of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department said his state will get $350 million.

He and his commission will have to choose the most critical needs from 214 projects with a total price tag of $1.8 billion that could be put to contract.

Pennsylvania has 900 miles of candidate projects, but will have to put much of its estimated $1 billion in stimulus money toward bridge repair.

Pennsylvania has the nation’s highest number of state-owned bridges which are structurally deficient.

Florida is getting some $1.3 billion, but has $50 billion in needs.

All of which makes the next highway reauthorization bill so important, and in the long run, likely more important than the stimulus money.

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By an overwhelming majority, truckers who responded to our poll on thetrucker.com don’t think the stimulus package will help the economy.

We asked this question: “How much positive impact do you think President Obama’s stimulus package will have on the U.S. economy?”

Sixty-seven percent said there would be no positive impact, 22 percent said a somewhat positive impact and 11 percent said a very positive impact.

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The trucking industry is still waiting to find out who will be the next administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

We’re told by insiders that the screening of candidates for presidentially appointed positions has become more intense since some of Obama’s nominees fell by the wayside.

The administration is being very careful to avoid any more such situations, we’ve learned.

Meanwhile, the agency is under the very capable leadership of Rose McMurray, the acting deputy administrator.

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We’re sure by now you’ve noticed some changes in the look of The Trucker.

We’re simply sprucing up an already great newspaper.

We’ve even changed the flag, newspaper terminology for the way the name of the newspaper is displayed on the front page.

All the while, you can expect the same comprehensive coverage of the trucking industry as well as new columns by each of our staff writers — Dorothy Cox, Barb Kampbell, Jerry Breeden and Kevin Jones.

Columns by Dorothy and Kevin will appear in the first issue each month; Barb and Jerry will write columns for the second issue.

We invite your feedback on the new look and the new columns.

E-mail us at editor@thetrucker.com.