Commenting on President Obama’s signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said his agency will use transportation funding in the act "to deliver jobs and restore our nation’s economy." He said this will be done by emphasizing sustainable investment and focusing policies on building and restoring the United States’ transportation foundations.
Plans include investing in jobs "to build and rehabilitate, and make safer roads, highways, bridges, and ports," as well as expanding transit capacity and modernizing transit systems.
There will also be investment to launch high-speed rail, he said. "This will transform intercity transportation in America, reduce our carbon footprint, relieve congestion on the roads and in the skies, and take advantage of a mode of transportation that has already benefited Europe and Japan for many years," he said.
LaHood has met with state officials and other transportation stakeholders to discuss "how the money can be spent quickly to create jobs on projects that make long-term sense for our transportation systems in communities across the nation. We also reviewed the need for transparency and full accountability on this spending.
"We at the Department of Transportation are ready to go," he said.
