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damn! this guy IS good! I mean we ALL know that the cost of the project at the beginning is always what the cost ends up being in the end!
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama declared Monday that his stimulus plan is "starting to work" and that 2,000 transportation projects -- costing much less than expected -- are under way.
President Obama on Monday says the transportation projects will help create or save jobs.
"Competition for these projects is so fierce, and contractors are doing such a good job cutting costs, the projects are consistently coming in under budget," Obama said Monday.
The president gave a rapid-fire list of savings: a bid for road work in Connecticut is $8.4 million less than the state budgeted; Louisiana has a project coming in $4.7 million less than expected; projects in Colorado are averaging about 30 percent under the state forecast; and some bids in California are nearly half of what the state projected.
The administration said those savings will stretch the agency's $48 billion stimulus budget.
"Our recovery dollars can go further, and we can do more projects," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. "This is great news."
LaHood hosted the president and vice president at his department's headquarters in Washington for the announcement. Officials did not give an overall estimate of money saved from competitive bids.
The three leaders also claimed a victory in the amount of transportation work approved so far, saying the agency has approved its 2,000th infrastructure project as part of the stimulus.
"Some may have thought it would have taken months to get to this point," Obama said, "but we have approved these projects in just 41 days."
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