Two weeks after US President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion economic stimulus plan, known as the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, the first stimulus-funded highway
construction contract is being awarded to resurface a highway in Montgomery County, Maryland. This contract is the first of hundreds to come in the near future -- the president said Tuesday that 200 highway
construction jobs will start within the next few weeks as more of the stimulus funds for road-building are released.
Obama pointed out that the jobs created or protected by the highway building program will exceed the number of people who lost their job over the last three years at Ford, Chrysler and General Motors combined. The initiative is expected to create or save 150,000 jobs by the end of 2010.
At a Tuesday morning visit to the Department of Transportation, the president, alongside vice president, Joe Biden, and Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, said that with the more than $27 billion from the economic stimulus package designated to build and repair highways, roads and bridges, America is making the largest new investment in infrastructure since President Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System half a century ago.