“There’s so much enthusiasm to do things states haven’t been able to do,” Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, told SCOOP44 in a recent interview.

“The money simply hasn’t been there to build new buses, roadways, bike paths, and street car programs.”

With the passage of the stimulus legislation and now President Obama’s budget, that money is increasingly accessible.

“For a while, many years, state governments haven’t been able to do anything. Today there is an enormous number of people working to rebuild infrastructure. There simply wasn’t the kind of money available — states didn’t have the money to do it on there own.”

Recently, Lahood hailed, alongside the President and Vice President Biden, the 2000th recovery project’s funding at DOT’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C. According to DOT, Recovery and Reinvestment-funded projects are costing “substantially less” than initial estimates “due to increased competition among construction companies resulting in lower bids from contractors.”

According to LaHood, the department did not set particular federal environmental standards for stimulus projects, but “state DOTs have very tough environmental requirements and standards, in regard to road and bridge infrastructure.”

He was reluctant to call the older systems being replaced “obsolete,” but said that new innovations will transform domestic transportation and improve the lives of Americans.

In other words, there’s a reason all 50 governors are accepting the transportation stimulus funding.

“Great optimism comes from the people I meet with and talk to. I believe that transportation projects and the jobs they create will be sustainable.”

LaHood emphasized that Obama has invested unprecedented dollars into the future of transportation. “He’s a transformational President who has made transportation issues a priority. There’s a lot of work to do, but it’s creating a lot of work for people.”

One example of this vision is to build a national high-speed passenger rail that connects American communities in 100-600 mile corridors.

These plans are “similar to how interstate highways and U.S. aviation system were developed in 20th century: partnership between public sector and private industry, including strong Federal leadership that provided a national vision,” a DOT release explained.

The ratified budget allocates $1 billion annually over a five-year spread “as a down payment to jump-start a potential world-class passenger rail system and sets the direction of transportation policy for the future,” according to the White House.

“The systems are going to be different. For instance, California will be completely new, but Milwaukee and St. Louis will build off existing systems including Amtrak and commuter-rails,” said Rob Kulat, chief spokesperson for the Federal Railroad Administration.

He didn’t specify which, if any, particular domestic or international blueprints DOT is following to steer through a new high-speed rail system.

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