By Chris McCahill
The U.S. faces a $1 trillion backlog of roads and bridges needing repair, according to FHWA. Yet we still spend roughly $27 billion per year (25% of the total) expanding and building new highways. Mounting evidence shows that shifting those dollars toward maintenance and rehabilitation could yield greater benefits.
A new report from Good Jobs First finds that every dollar spent on rehabilitation creates more jobs than new construction. On federally aided highway resurfacing projects, each $1 billion generated 10,421 job-years of work, compared to 9,316 job-years for new highway construction. Those figures don’t even include the additional costs of land acquisition, which can account for around 10% of total highway construction costs—and significantly more in urban areas.
Earlier research from Smart Growth America and the University of Utah reached similar conclusions. They found that rehabilitation projects produce 16% more jobs per dollar than new roads. They also found that every federal dollar spent on public transportation yields 70% more job-hours than one spent on highways.
The Good Jobs First report goes further, linking smart growth to stronger local economies and higher wages. Drawing on research by Arthur C. Nelson at the University of Arizona, it shows that the densest metro areas saw 11% wage growth for construction jobs between 2012 and 2020, compared to just 5% in less dense cities. Construction employment grew by 57% in those denser regions, versus 37% elsewhere. Stronger unions, more accessible job markets, and reinvestment in existing communities all play a role.
For transportation agencies, these findings reinforce a growing reality: how we invest our infrastructure dollars, whether in new highways or in maintaining what we have, shapes not just travel behavior but entire economies. Rochester, New York’s Inner Loop project offers a glimpse of what’s possible. By replacing an elevated freeway with an urban boulevard, according to Good Jobs First, the city created more than 2,000 construction jobs and opened land for 170 permanent positions.
Photo credit: Lance Asper via Unsplash. License.