Governor Kulongoski in Oregon and President-elect Obama on the national level want to jack up the economy with many billions of dollars worth of public works projects. Can this really work?

They are talking about highway and bridge projects, water and sewer construction or rehabilitation and similar work on “infrastructure.”

Typically in Oregon, getting such projects going takes a long time. Years are spent on the design, or corridor options for roads, acquisition of right of way, wetlands evaluations and mitigation and so on.

Just one example: In 2005, Congress approved an earmark of about $1 million to fix a traffic problem on Pacific Boulevard in Albany. The project is relatively small. It calls mainly for the realignment of the traffic lanes along with some intersection changes. This year, after a lot of planning, ODOT said it may call for bids in 2009, with the actual construction to follow. That’s four years between approving the money and doing the work.

It suggests that highway and similar projects, as worthwhile as they may be, won’t give the economy a quick shot in the arm. (hh)