President Barack Obama Monday announced funding for the 2,000th transportation project under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), only six weeks after approving the first project.


"Just 41 days ago we announced funding for the first transportation project under ARRA and today we're approving the 2,000th project," said President Obama. "I am proud to utter the two rarest phrases in the English language - projects are being approved ahead of schedule, and they are coming in under budget."

The 2,000th project is in Kalamazoo County, Mich. The $68 million project involves widening of I-94 from two lanes both east and westbound to three lanes in each direction. The project will improve safety and ease congestion by providing a more efficient interchange.

State departments of transportation around the country have reported to FHWA intense competition by contractors for ARRA projects, according to government officials. Bids have been roughly 15 to 20 percent lower on average, and as much as 30 percent lower in some cases, than engineers anticipated. For example, in Colorado, the state's first five ARRA transportation projects announced on April 2 were 12 percent lower than anticipated. In Maine, one bridge project was 20 percent lower than estimated. In Oregon, during February and March 2009, bids have averaged 30 percent lower than expected.

ARRA provides a total of $48.1 billion for transportation infrastructure projects to be administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Of that, $27.5 billion is for highways and bridges.

In early February, prior to the passage of the ARRA, Secretary LaHood established within the U.S. Department of Transportation the TIGER (Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery) team to ensure that economic recovery dollars for transportation infrastructure projects is rapidly made available and that project spending is monitored and transparent.