The just-signed-into law economic stimulus package is a huge opportunity — and a huge test — for state transportation officials. That’s because, of the $46 billion for transportation in the package, $27.5 billion will be distributed through USDOT’s Surface Transportation Program (STP), an ultra-flexible account that can be spent on transit, roads (both maintenance and expansion), and bike and pedestrian infrastructure. It is now up to state and local officials to spend that money wisely.

The bill also includes $8.4 billion dedicated to transit, $9.3 billion for high-speed and intercity (including Amtrak) rail, and smaller allocations for projects on federal land and in U.S. territories. Of the STP money, 3% is dedicated to Transportation Enhancements (a category used mostly for bicycle and pedestrian projects) and 30% is sub-allocated through metropolitan planning organizations and rural transportation management associations. The remaining 67% will be administered by state DOTs.

What Does Stimulus Mean for the Tri-State Area?

The stimulus could have great benefits for the tri-state area if it is spent wisely. Here’s the breakdown:

New York’s stimulus wish list is reasonable, with a 50-50 split between road and transit projects and an emphasis on much-needed road and bridge maintenance, including deck replacement on the Tappan Zee Bridge. Most of the state’s transit money will go to the MTA, which will spend it on needed projects like subway rehabilitations and the East Side Access rail tunnel between Long Island and NYC. However, the wish list is just a starting point; the actual projects to be funded are still changing.

New Jersey’s U.S. Senate delegation announced that an increase in federal New Starts money could mean a $1.5 billion federal commitment to the Access to the Region’s Core rail tunnel. In addition, the state’s plan to use stimulus funding for widenings of the Garden State Parkway and NJ Turnpike may have hit another dead end. The plan was predicated on a replenishment of the federal “Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act” program that was not included in the stimulus. (Of course, the plan was illegal from the beginning since the toll road widenings had not gone through federal environmental reviews.)

ConnDOT Commissioner Joseph Marie has spoken of the need to bring smart growth, transit-oriented development, and a fix-it-first philosophy to ConnDOT. The stimulus money will create an opportunity for him to do just that. Needs to be addressed include the state’s many deficient bridges and bicycle and pedestrian projects, which have been historically underfunded.

Need for Transparency

So far, New York seems to be handling the stimulus in the most transparent way. Gov. Paterson has designated one point person, aide Timothy Gilchrist, as the leader of a cabinet that will disburse all stimulus funding.

New Jersey has so far not designated an ombudsman or point person for stimulus funding, but its wish list has been public for months. The state created a “federal stimulus working group” charged with winning as much stimulus aid as possible; it’s not clear yet whether the stimulus funds would be distributed by this group or by other entities.

Connecticut has been further behind when it comes to transparency, but the governor’s office has finally made the lists of stimulus funding requests public, showing them to the Hartford Courant‘s Rick Green yesterday. ConnDOT’s draft stimulus project wish list, just received by MTR, is here. Gov. Rell also announced the creation of a working group of state agencies and local elected officials which will determine a final list of projects.

Thankfully, the federal stimulus legislation requires that all spending be placed on the Internet, which will help ensure that the process remains transparent.