Stimulus Watch: States that Spent on Public Transportation Created More Jobs

Two years after the Stimulus Act doled out $26.6 billion in flexible transportation funds to the states, a new study declares that, if job expansion was the goal, that money was best spent on public transportation and road repairs. Sponsored by Smart Growth America, an advocacy group focusing on urban encroachment on the environment, the study also claims that building new roads and bridges was the worst for job growth.

Historically, investments in public transportation have generated 31 percent more jobs per dollar than new construction of roads and bridges. However, SGA’s findings show that the payoff was even larger in Recovery Act spending, with public transportation projects producing 70 percent more jobs per dollar than road projects.

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This news comes on the heels of another study that found that building bike path infrastructure creates twice as many jobs as repairing roads. Either way you look at it, both are better than building new roads for more cars. Once again, sustainability is better for your lungs and your pocketbook.

photo (cc) via Flickr user ^riza^