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 have worked over 2 million hours on stimulus projects to date 
• Six more highway projects completed 
• I-5 project wraps up near Stanwood 
• The 1,000th transit Recovery Act project was awarded in Oklahoma 
• Important stimulus dates 
• Useful Recovery Act web links 
• Stimulus data table update
  
  

Stimulus project employees earned almost $7.6 million in April – Employees working on Washington state and local projects receiving Recovery Act highway funds contributed over 193,000 labor hours and earned $7.58 million in April. The April data was an increase from payroll of $7 million and more than 171,000 hours in March. Stimulus labor hours surpassed the 2 million mark in April, totaling 2,061,328 hours to date. Employees have earned more than $79.6 million since March 2009. The full data set is available at WSDOT’s stimulus employment webpage.

More than 110 Recovery Act projects completed – WSDOT and local governments reported six more Recovery Act projects complete this week. To date, 113 of 212 certified Recovery Act projects have been completed, including 23 state projects and 90 local projects. The six projects reported complete this week are:

• Oroville – US 97/5th Ave to 23rd Ave
• Renton – Rainier Avenue South
• Lynden – Grover Street
• Battle Ground – North Parkway Improvements
• WSDOT – I-90/Two Way Transit – Dowel Bar Retrofit
• WSDOT – I-5/SR 532 to Starbird Rd – PCCP Rehab (See highlight of the week below)

LaHood announced 1,000th Recovery Act transit project award – On May 13, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that 1,000 transit projects are now being funded by the Recovery Act. The landmark award was a $480,374 grant to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma for vehicle and technology upgrades. The Recovery Act included $8.7 million for transit projects and funding, including about $179 million in Washington. The news release and WSDOT’s transit Recovery Act webpage have more information about stimulus-funded projects.

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held Recovery Act progress hearing – The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held its latest stimulus hearing on May 26. The committee summarized its previous stimulus oversight hearings in a report on its website.

Highlight of the week

Smoother I-5 lanes reopened near Stanwood

All lanes of southbound I-5 reopened near Stanwood just in time for the warmer weather and busier driving season. Two lanes have been closed since March while WSDOT crews removed and replaced more than a thousand broken and bumpy concrete panels.

“We’re finishing these much-needed repairs three to four months ahead of schedule, and it looks as though we’ll finish under budget too,” project engineer Dave Crisman said.

Construction began last summer on the I-5/SR 532 to Starbird Rd concrete rehabilitation project, which was among more than 200 projects statewide funded by last year’s federal Recovery Act. The $9.2 million project’s construction was put on hold during the wetter, colder winter months and resumed in March.

“If it wasn’t for the stimulus money, we wouldn’t have been able to fix the chewed up right lane,” engineering manager Marco Foster said. “It needed fixing in a bad way. And the added bonus was that the money also kept our contractor, a number of subcontractors and our engineers employed during tough economic times.”

Crews replaced 1,208 broken concrete panels along six miles of southbound I-5, between Starbird Road in Skagit County and State Route 532 in Snohomish County. Approximately 59,000 vehicles use this stretch of I-5 daily. Repairing the pavement will reduce costly temporary repairs, provide drivers with a safe and smooth ride, and ensure that the roadway will last well into the future.

Important dates

June 4: FRA holds National Rail Plan meeting in Portland
July 10: Next performance report due to Office of Management and Budget
July 16: TIGER II pre-application deadline 
August 11: Transit application deadline for TIGGER grants 
August 23: Final TIGER II application deadline
September 30: Deadline for obligating Recovery Act highway funds

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)