CMD First Source

Highway Projects Ahead of Schedule

President Obama announced yesterday that highway projects spurred by the administration’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan are coming in “ahead of schedule and under budget,” but the program’s early success may owe more to the depth of the economic crisis than to any new found efficiency in Washington. State governments, facing black-hole deficits, went into overdrive to grab a share of the $28 billion for highways and bridges that was provided in the stimulus bill. Even before the huge spending measure cleared Congress, state highway officials were zeroing in on projects that could win quick infusions of federal cash. Across the country, meanwhile, construction companies had seen business plunge so far so fast that they rushed to submit unusually low bids for the federally funded projects — hoping to have at least some work in the summer construction season, and hoping to stay afloat.