TV: Investigating Stimulus Road Projects

When the stimulus money was first approved President Obama and Congress promised it would get people back to work. The transportation funding was intended to have an immediate impact because it would focus on shovel ready projects.

The Texas Department of Transportation decided three areas of Mopac were among those projects and approved spending more than $5 million in stimulus money on the heavily traveled highway.

The work won't make the Mopac wider, but it should make it smoother. All three of those projects involve resurfacing the roadway.

The work was first approved in April and given the final green light in June. So where's the work?

Of the 22 projects approved for the Austin area, none has started yet.

"I want to know why they haven't started. We need to get people back to work," said Austin resident Brandon Frye.

John Barton is the Assistant Executive Director of Engineering Operations at TxDOT.

"From the day we decide we're going to go forward with the contract to the time we take bids on it to the time people start seeing dirt turn is about a 6 month process," he said.

Barton said TxDOT streamlined the process and in some cases cut the time frame in half, but he said there's still a process.

"We have to make sure the public has had a chance to review the process and the projects. Then we have to take bids on those projects and we are required to give bidders at least three week's notice so they can prepare their bids," Barton said.

How many projects completed statewide?

So far TxDOT has approved 179 stimulus projects across the state, four have been completed.

Those four are located in Fort Bend County, Galveston County, Mason County and Van Zandt County. TxDOT said all four of those projects were pretty small and like most of those approved-they involved resurfacing work.

Texas Congressman Michael McCaul voted against the stimulus package.

He provided KVUE with this statement:

"I voted against the stimulus because it was filled with pork and so little of it was devoted to job growth, particularly transportation projects that are shovel-ready. With less than 10% of the money spent in six months it's no surprise progress is slow. If our economy is showing signs of rebounding it's despite the stimulus, not because of it."

Congressman Lloyd Doggett approved the stimulus funding package in February.

We asked what he thought about the fact that only four projects had been completed across the state.

"I'm disappointed," he said."I think had TxDOT picked different projects that met more immediate needs of people in our community these projects would be happening right now."

Doggett's disappointment centers around one big project in the Austin area that would create an interchange for a tollway at 183 and 290.

"I think that's a bad investment of our money," said Doggett. "There are many other more pressing projects and they are projects that could have gotten underway more quickly than this $90 million dollar entry to a new toll way to Manor."

How does Texas compare?

So we wondered how Texas compares with other states.

Remember Texas has awarded 179 projects and completed 4. That's a 2 percent completion rate.

Oklahoma has awarded 150 projects and completed 10 or 6 percent.

California has awarded 72 projects and completed 2 or 3 percent.

Nationally, 6,415 highway projects have been approved. The U.S. Department of Transportation told KVUE 186 have been completed nationwide. That's also 3 percent, only slightly better than the Texas completion rate.

What do voters think?

"It takes some time and planning," said Amy Schumacher. "I'd rather the engineers take the time and get the planning ready to go and get the right people on the job to get it done right rather than shove people out there to get people started on a job."

"I think we rushed into it to get it passed and it seemed as though it was going to stimulate the economy," said Brandon Frye. "I don't see how the stimulus package is stimulating much at all right now."

"It takes a while to get things started to get bids," said Barbara Cook. "I wish a lot of things had happened yesterday but I don't think that's being realistic."

"One of the things that it seems with the stimulus money is that it is trying to do a lot of stuff really fast and it might work better if it was in private hands," said Bob Tyler. "Governments do things at their own pace."

When will we see the work?

TX DOT expects we'll start to see more of the stimulus projects start to take shape this fall. That includes the work along Mopac.

How to track the money

There are several different ways to track the stimulus spending. put together its own tool to help you track stimulus road projects.

There are also several watchdog groups doing the same for all of the stimulus projects:

Each state has until March of next year to divvy up the stimulus dough and Texas still has a billion dollars of stimulus money to spend on road projects.

As for creating or saving jobs--a recent report by the U.S. Transportation and Infrastructure Committee found highway stimulus funds have been responsible for 23 new jobs in Texas. However, TxDOT estimates so far the transportation portion of the stimulus plan has saved 5,000 jobs in Texas.

We'll continue to follow the money. Let us know what you'd like us to look into by adding your comments below.