Investing in repair and maintenance of our existing transportation infrastructure can create more jobs — while also preventing disasters like the Minnesota bridge collapse. Put thousands back to work quickly and responsibly with smart transportation spending Governors and state departments of transportation around the country are burning the midnight oil to prepare lists of ready-to-go transportation projects that could be funded under President Obama’s economic stimulus package, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Most Americans -- 80 percent -- believe it is more important that the stimulus funding include efforts to repair existing highways and public transit rather than to build new highways. Repair projects have also been shown to create 16% more jobs, and to do so faster, than those that build new highway capacity. Read the letter below and click submit to send this message to your Governor, asking them to ensure that the transportation stimulus create jobs quickly while providing a down payment on a clean, green transportation infrastructure for the 21st Century rather than funding destructive road expansion projects.

September 03, 2010 Subject: Governor, According to a poll released in January by the National Association of Realtors, an overwhelming 80 percent of Americans believe it’s more important that the stimulus funding include efforts to repair existing highways and public transit rather than to build new highways. Repair projects have also been shown to create 16% more jobs, and to do so faster, than those that build new highway capacity. The national nonprofit organization Smart Growth America has released a report detailing 20 proven and ready-to-go ways that states can spend federal funding on projects that will address long-neglected transportation priorities while providing speedy and robust job creation and economic recovery. (http://stimulus.smartgrowthamerica.org) The report identifies projects like repairing roads, bridges, transit facilities, buses, rail tracks and stations; building complete streets that help everyone get around; supporting public transportation to meet burgeoning demand; and easing road congestion by making better use of the roads we have, to name a few. This stimulus money is not just “highway money,” as some have mistakenly said, and it is incorrect to treat it as such. In funding the Surface Transportation Program, Congress gave highways no priority — nor priority to anything else. It is up to the states to decide how and where to spend the money. STP is the main program through which the federal government funds state transportation investment on most surface transportation: transit, roads, sidewalks, and others. Congress changed the name and the operation of the program to Surface Transportation because a highway-centric approach no longer served America's needs. And that is truer today than ever before. Please read the SGA report at http://stimulus.smartgrowthamerica.org and make sure that these scarce funds for transportation will create jobs quickly and responsibly through innovative projects that can help us meet pressing goals while boosting the economy and putting people back to work. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, We will add your signature from the information you provide.		First Name* Last Name* Email* Street* Street 2 City* State/Province* Select a state Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware D.C. Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Northern Mariana Islands Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Armed Forces (the) Americas Armed Forces Europe Armed Forces Pacific Alberta British Columbia Manitoba Newfoundland New Brunswick Nova Scotia Northwest Territories Nunavut Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon Territory Other Zip/Postal Code*
Clicking submit will send this message to the Governor of your state based on the information you enter. We will also keep you updated in the future with action alerts like these and other news.  Your privacy is important to us, so we won't sell or share your contact information with other organizations. Creative Commons photo by Flickr user Poppyseed Bandits.