Stimulus News You Can Use is one way WSDOT is working to keep transportation stakeholders updated on the fast-moving effort to put people to work and improve the state’s infrastructure. Each edition will have information on project delivery and highlights. Sign up to receive stimulus news e-mail updates. Visit the Newsletter Archive for earlier editions.

This week's stimulus snapshot

• Employees earned $7 million working on Recovery Act projects in March 
• Three local highway projects awarded 
• Federal Recovery Act accountability reports to be published online April 30 
• WSDOT begins I-5 work in Pierce and Thurston counties
• Key April and May dates
• Useful Recovery Act web links 
• Stimulus data table update
  

Stimulus project employees earned $7 million in March – Payroll on Recovery Act highway projects increased from February to March as employees on state and local projects receiving Recovery Act highway funds worked over 171,000 hours and earned payroll totaling over $7 million in March, up from payroll of $5.3 million and almost 131,000 hours in February. Improving weather and additional project starts led to the increase. The full data set is available at WSDOT’s stimulus employment webpage.

• To date, employees have worked over 1.8 million hours on projects receiving highway stimulus funds and earned over $72 million in payroll.
• March was the ninth straight month workers have put in over 130,000 labor hours and earned over $5 million in payroll on stimulus projects.

Three local governments in Clark County awarded Recovery Act projects – Vancouver, Camas, and Battle Ground each advertised Recovery Act projects last week. To date, 155 local projects and 44 state projects receiving Recovery Act highway funds, or 95% of the all certified projects, have been awarded or are under way. The projects awarded are:

• Camas – Leadbetter Way
• Vancouver – Arterial Resurfacing
• Battle Ground – Arterial Overlay

OMB Quarterly Report to be published April 30 – States and local governments receiving stimulus funds have submitted detailed quarterly Recovery Act accountability reports to the White House Office of Management and Budget. The reporting will be published on the federal stimulus website www.Recovery.gov on April 30.

Highlight of the week

I-5 Recovery Act concrete rehabilitation project progressing in Thurston and Pierce counties

For WSDOT's Olympic Region, one of its biggest construction projects of the year is making its way down I-5 this spring and summer.

WSDOT and contractor Penhall Company began rehabilitating the concrete roadway in Thurston and Pierce counties three weeks ago. Nightly closures and weekend work have provided crews the construction windows needed to replace 85 of 295 concrete panels and 3,018 of 56,700 dowel bars on the project.

Construction between Martin Way in Lacey and 48th Street in Tacoma began in March and is scheduled for completion in September. The $8.4 million project replaces pavement that is over 50 years old – more than twice its expected 20-year lifespan.

More information about the project, its schedule, traffic impacts, and progress is available at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/construction/2010/tacoma.htm

Important dates

April 29: Tentative bid opening for the North Spokane Corridor TIGER project
April 30: Stimulus data to be published to www.Recovery.gov
May 3: House T & I Subcommittee hearing on High-speed rail intermodal connections
May 20: Next performance report due to House T & I Committee


Websites of interest

WSDOT ARRA website: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/funding/stimulus
Washington recovery website: http://www.recovery.wa.gov/
Federal recovery website: http://www.recovery.gov/
FHWA recovery website: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/economicrecovery/index.htm
Federal Transit Administration recovery website: www.fta.dot.gov/recovery
Federal Rail Administration recovery website: http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/2153
Federal Aviation Administration recovery website: http://www.faa.gov/recovery
OMB recovery website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/recovery_default/

This week by the numbers (project dollars in millions)