In what should be no surprise to readers of MTR, a ProPublica report on the federal stimulus has found that New York has submitted and gotten federal approval for only 26% of its Surface Transportation Program (STP) stimulus money, compared to 51.9% in Connecticut and 46.8% in New Jersey.

This is not the first time MTR has reported on the slow speed of New York’s stimulus process. While Connecticut and New Jersey have already determined the projects which will receive stimulus funds, New York seems to pick and choose from its list of candidate projects every week, with no discernible criteria underlying its decisions.

In some ways this is a skewed comparison. So far, Connecticut and New Jersey have funded relatively few big-ticket projects, while New York has funded over a hundred smaller ones. New York is also a larger state. Even so, New York is far behind other large states like Illinois (which has funded 232 projects and allocated over two-thirds of its cash) and Pennsylvania (which has funded 130 projects and allocated over 41% of stimulus funds).

The ProPublica analysis also shows that only about 6% of federal “highway” stimulus funding has gone to new construction. However, this number does not include widening projects, just new roads.

In broader stimulus news, the NYS Stimulus Oversight Working Group joined State Sen. Jose Serrano, Assm. Michael Gianaris, and NYC Councilmember Gale Brewer this week in calling on Gov. Paterson to make New York the nation’s “transparency capital” on spending the stimulus. Specifically, the officials asked the governor to establish an independent stimulus monitor, create a more participatory decision-making process, and expand New York’s stimulus website to make it easier for the public to track investments. TSTC is a member of the Working Group, which is a statewide coalition convened by Common Cause.