NY stimulus spending hits milestone - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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The state has now sought bids forprojectsx that, together, consume more than half of New York’s highwag and bridge funding, said Timothy Gilchrist, an advised to Gov. David Gilchrist is overseeing a state committee that is administerinhgstimulus funds. The $787 billion stimulus requires statesz to obligate at least half of their highwa funds byJune 29. States that do not meet that deadline forfeit their remaininghighway funding, whichj will be redistributed to states that did meet the deadline. To 15 states have failed to obligate at least half of their highway money, Gilchrist said.
New York has now met that requiremen a month aheadof time, having advertisesd bids for at least $392 million of highway projects. “It’sd one less thing that will wake me up at 3 in the Gilchrist saidon Thursday. “Wre get to rest for about 30 And then we have to move Gilchrist said it will take several more months to obligatde all thestimulus money. And the state won’t know until the June 29 deadline whether it will getmore money. “Eachb day, people are processing projects. We won’t know untill the end,” Gilchrist said. Many of the projects that have been advertisedf so far have been in planning for afew years.
In many municipalities are substituting stimulus money for fundinf they had already set aside fora project. The state Department of Transportatioj will also be able todo that, restartinf projects that had been delayed, Gilchristt said. A list of those projects is to be publishedf in afew weeks. It takes up to 12 weeksx from the time a project is announcer to the time when construction A typical bid period lasts four to six and it takes just as long for the statd comptroller to review and authorizethe work, Gilchrisy said. “There will be boots on the grounfthis summer,” he For more information, see the state’s stimulus Web .