(Source: Brookings Institute)

Brookings Senior Fellow Robert Puentes tells a House Appropriations panel this week that “how and where we build in the future carries far-reaching implications for the health of our environment, our energy security, and our economic recovery and will continue to impact our metropolitan areas’ success and our ability to compete globally.”

Unfortunately, the U.S. track record here is not good.  Puentes’ research shows that between 1980 and 2000, the growth of the largest 99 metro areas in the continental U.S. consumed 16 million acres of rural land, or about one acre for every new household.5Indicative of this outward sprawl is the fact that more than 70 percent of the 100 largest metros’ recent population growth over the same period of time occurred outside of principal cities—the largest and most established cities within each metro in terms of population and employment.

Click here to read or download Mr. Puentes’ testimony to the House Appropriations panel.  Shown below is the read-only version of the PDF document.

(Source: Federal Computer Week)

The Transportation Department has established a special team to oversee the $48 billion it is slated to receive under the economic stimulus law, said Calvin Scovel, DOT’s inspector general. 

The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery team would make sure that the department provides accountability and transparency for the massive amount of additional funding authorized by the law, Scovel said in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee’s Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee today. 

However, dealing with that large infusion of money, which must be distributed quickly and with the limited staff resources available, will force the department to limit its focus on its mission of transportation safety, Scovel said.

DOT must balance the quick distribution of funds to create jobs with significant oversight of that money and the $70 billion the department spends annually on safety and mobility projects, he said. The stimulus funds would flow through existing DOT program spending, most of which is channeled to the states in the form of grants, he added.