A new report indicates that less than a sliver of the stimulus funds spent on transportation has gone to minority contractors. A source inside the DOT has revealed that of the $48 billion in ARRA funds designated to highway projects via state DOTs thus far, only $986 million, or 2%, had been committed to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) as of December 11, 2009. In addition, the DOT has awarded $32 million to minority owned firms in direct federal contracts.
Laura Barrett, the executive director of the Transportation Equity Network, issued the following statement:
The USDOT has disclosed that only 2% of the $48 billion in federal stimulus funds spent on highway construction has gone to disadvantaged and minority contractors. This number is absolutely shocking. Secretary LaHood is encouraging state DOTs to increase allocations to minority and disadvantaged contractors, but this number proves that encouragement is not enough. The old boys network that locks out minority contractors was built on the state and local level, and it needs to be fought at that level to reverse this outrageous inequity.
Job one is recording and publicizing detailed demographic information on exactly who is winning these contracts and who is actually performing the jobs. We also have to apply the TEN workforce equity model, which was a huge success in Missouri, across the country. Minority and female workers performed 26% of the workforce hours on Missouri’s $500 million I-64 highway project, and the project was finished three weeks early and $11 million under budget. The Missouri DOT proved that when you make diversity a priority, everybody wins.
Finally, we need to ensure that federal stimulus funds spent on public transit—which has been proven to create twice as many jobs as highway construction—have strong workforce equity requirements as well. Public transit is not only an economic lifeline for low income and minority communities, it is a way to build lives and careers.

Thus far, stimulus spending on roads and bridges has had virtually no effect on local unemployment levels, and has only minimally boosted the construction industry, according to a new study by the AP (via 




