by Angela Cotey

Taking the good with the bad

To say it's been a year of ups and downs in the transit industry would be an understatement.

In February, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) into law. The legislation included $8.4 billion for transit and $1.3 billion for Amtrak.

The influx of funds is giving the transit industry an opportunity to prove what advocates have been saying for years: that for every $1 billion invested in public transportation, 30,000 jobs are created.

The stimulus dollars are being put to quick use; transit agencies had no shortage of "shovel-ready" projects that could be launched within the ARRA timeline. Information on many agencies' recovery act projects — from Bay Area Rapid Transit's Oakland Airport Connector to Chicago Transit Authority's Blue Line reconstruction — are featured in this year's guide.

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