More Bang For Your Buck From Transit Spending Over Highways

18 December 2009 - 12:00pm

A new study shows that stimulus funds spent on public transportation were a more effective job creator than stimulus funds spent on highways.

from Smart Growth America: "An analysis of congressional data by Smart Growth America, the Center for Neighborhood Technology and the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups shows that stimulus funds spent on public transportation were a more effective job creator than stimulus funds spent on highways. In the 10 months since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed, investing in public transportation produced twice as many jobs as investing in roads:

* Every billion dollars spent on public transportation produced 16,419 job-months.
* Every billion dollars spent on projects funded under highway infrastructure programs produced 8,781 job-months."

Source: Smart Growth America blog, December 17, 2009
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At a much larger economic scale, however, one mustn’t avoid calculating the tremendous and exceptional externalities of automobile dependency.