Stimulus road funds limited for cities

NEW YORK, July 9 (UPI) -- A study of 5,274 approved transportation projects shows the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas are not receiving even 50 percent of stimulus road funds.

The New York Times said Thursday its analysis of the projects planned by U.S. states found major population areas nationwide will receive less than half of the $16.4 billion in stimulus funds tabbed for such transportation improvements.

While the federal stimulus funds were tabbed for use on transportation projects such as bridges and highways, states were given the final say on how to use the appropriated funds.

The project planning comes as the nation's top 100 metropolitan areas account for 75 percent of the economic activity in the United States, the Times said.

Robert Puentes of the Brookings Institution said states would be best served to focus funding efforts on these areas to help improve the nation's struggling economy.

"But states take this peanut-butter approach, taking the dollars and spreading them around very thinly, rather than taking the dollars and concentrating them where the most complex transportation problems are," the Metropolitan Policy Program senior fellow said.