Monday February 9, 2009
W.Va. expects 14,400 jobs from stimulus road funding
by Lawrence Messina
The Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va. West Virginia could see 14,400 jobs created by the highway slice of the pending federal stimulus legislation, state lawmakers were told Monday.
An industry official cited U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures to offer the estimate, which includes 3,840 jobs that would come directly from hiring for road and bridge projects.
Mike Clowser, executive director of the state contractors' association, said the state should expect 16 direct jobs for every $1 million received. West Virginia's estimated $1.1 billion share of stimulus funding, in the latest Senate version of the bill, includes $240 million for highways.
Clowser said the state stands to gain an equal number of indirect jobs among materials suppliers, equipment dealers and the hauling industry.
The balance of the jobs estimate comes from dollars spent by all those workers at businesses such as grocery stores and other retailers.
West Virginia's expected share of highway stimulus funding would cover a fraction of the $970 million worth of ready-to-go road and bridge projects that Gov. Joe Manchin outlined for the Obama administration earlier this year. Manchin listed 139 such projects, with 15 on the West Virginia
Turnpike and the rest on the Division of Highways' road system.
The list largely reflects preservation efforts repairing, cleaning and painting bridges and repaving roads, said Marvin Murphy, the division's chief highway engineer. Most of these projects could begin within 90 days of the state receiving the money, and the rest starting within 180 days, Murphy told Monday's joint interim committee meeting.
Murphy also noted that most of the projects would rely on contractors. Clowser said his group is ready for the call.
"Our members are pretty confident that there is capacity in the industry...that we can create jobs immediately,'' Clowser said. "We'll be able to start building as soon as the funding is available.''