Shocker: Transportation stimulus not going to the neediest counties

The Associated Press has done a detailed study to see where the transportation stimulus money is heading. And, surprise, surprise, it's not going to the areas with the deepest unemployment. The billions and billions that were supposed to be helping to create jobs are, instead, going to areas that are not hurting as much.

Although the intent of the money is to put people back to work, AP's review of more than 5,500 planned transportation projects nationwide reveals that states are planning to spend the stimulus in communities where jobless rates are already lower.

One result among many: Elk County, Pa., isn't receiving any road money despite its 13.8 percent unemployment rate. Yet the military and college community of Riley County, Kan., with its 3.4 percent unemployment, will benefit from about $56 million to build a highway, improve an intersection and restore a historic farmhouse.

Altogether, the government is set to spend 50 percent more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment than it will in communities with the highest.

The problem is that the money is supposed to go to projects that were ready to start and, unsurprisingly, the wealthier areas are the ones who could have afforded to do all the studies and preparation for such projects. The poorer counties couldn't afford to spend money preparing for transportation projects that might never materialize. So they're losing out on the federal money.

This is one of the reasons that critics of the stimulus package had argued that such transportation stimulus projects were unlikely to make a quick change in unemployment numbers. And now it seems that the money is heading out the door without consideration of where it's going. In fact, the Transportation Dempartment doesn't even seem to know where the money is going and hasn't considered whether it was targeting the hardest hurt areas.

Joel Szabat, who also oversees the stimulus for the Transportation Department, said the agency presses states to build projects in struggling areas but does not normally consider how much money is going to each county.

Presented with AP's findings, he said: "I will be going back to ask our folks to do this kind of analysis, the overall amount for the projects."

Gee, if the Associated Press can do this sort of analysis, can't the Transportation Department?