NewsOK
The Oklahoman Editorial
Published: August 28, 2010
The awarding of federal stimulus money last year for highway projects in Oklahoma was greeted with fanfare by Gov. Brad Henry. "It will, in fact, stimulate and help our economy," said Henry, who boarded the Barack Obama bandwagon early on. "It will create jobs. It will help Oklahoma companies."
That's been true, to a point.
Solid planning by Gary Ridley and his staff at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation put Oklahoma at the front of the line when highway-related stimulus funds were doled out. The feds were most interested in "shovel-ready" projects, and we had plenty. Hundreds of miles of roadway are being repaved with $464 million in stimulus money, and dozens of bridges are being replaced or upgraded.
Work by ODOT created 540 jobs in the second quarter of this year. Yet the Tulsa World's Gavin Off reported this week that several ODOT stimulus projects created only a handful of jobs. Many of those were created for one quarter of the year before being reduced or cut... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Sat, August 28, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski