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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)?
A. The $787 billion federal legislation, signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 17, 2009, is intended to stimulate the U.S. economy. It includes federal tax cuts, expansion of unemployment benefits and other provisions, along with funds for domestic spending on education, health care and infrastructure.

Q. What’s in it for Minnesota?
A. About $9 billion. Of that, the Metropolitan Council has a role in allocating about half of the nearly $600 million being allocated to the state for highways and transit.

Q. Who decides how transportation dollars will be spent?
A. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) and the Metropolitan Council jointly with the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB), which includes representatives from local units of government.

In the seven-county metro area, there is a process for determining which projects receive federal funds. The TAB reviews and recommends projects to include in the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).  The Metropolitan Council adopts the TIP and projects in it are, thereby, considered eligible for federal funding.

Of course there is collaboration with Mn/DOT and other local partners. But ultimately, all transit and highway/road projects in the region that are recommended for federal ARRA funding must be included in the TIP for Council approval.

Q. What is the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB)?
A. The TAB is a 33-member body, composed of elected officials, representatives of government agencies involved in transportation, citizen members, and members who represent transportation modes, such as transit, freight and non-motorized modes.

The Council, jointly with the TAB, serves as the certified Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the region, which qualifies the region for federal transportation dollars.

The TAB provides a forum for deliberation among state, regional and local officials, transportation providers and private citizens on transportation planning and funding issues in the Twin Cities region.

Q. What are the selection criteria for stimulus-funded projects?
A. First and foremost are job creation, project readiness and the economic development impacts of the projects. See the guiding principles for project selection.

Projects must also be able to comply with the federal government’s timeline.

Q. How will the federal funds be allocated?
A. The bulk of Minnesota’s share of transportation stimulus dollars will go to Mn/DOT for road and highway projects throughout the state, including $168 million for metro area projects.  The remainder, just over $150 million, is targeted to counties and cities across the state for road and highway projects.

Of the local portion, about half, $73 million, will go to the Metropolitan Planning Organization (Council and TAB) for distribution to road and highway projects in the metro area. To distinguish these dollars from state-allocated funds, planners are calling these monies the “MPO” dollars.  The Council and TAB will also allocate an additional $7.5 million in transportation enhancements, which include bike and pedestrian projects, for example.

Finally, the Council will allocate about $70 million in stimulus dollars for metro-area transit projects.

Again, all federal dollars for the metro area, whether they’re Mn/DOT, MPO or transit dollars, must flow through the TAB and Council for inclusion in the TIP to be eligible for federal funds.

Q. What specific projects will be funded with stimulus dollars?
A. The Council, which oversees transit operations in the metro area, has identified a number of priority transit investments.  Among them is a projected shortfall in the regional transit operating budget, due primarily, to the collapse of Motor Vehicle Sales Tax receipts, a major source of transit funding.

The Council expects to use some of the ARRA funds for eligible preventive maintenance costs included in the regional transit operating budget, which will help to reduce the $62.4 million shortfall in the projected FY2010-11 operating budget.
The Council has obligated nearly $53 million to purchase replacement buses for the Metro Transit and Metro Mobility fleets and smaller buses for dial-a-ride services.

Meanwhile, Mn/DOT, the TAB and Council are working to identify metro-area road and highway projects for federal funding, as well as transportation enhancement projects.

Toward that end, the TAB and Council are holding a series of meetings through the first half of the year.  The allocation of state and regional stimulus funds is expected to be complete by summer.

Q. How can I monitor activities related to the selection of projects?
A. The Council wants to ensure the selection of transportation projects for stimulus funding is open and transparent. To meet federal requirements, however, the process will move quickly. For information on meetings and actions related to the stimulus funds, see the Council's list of ARRA-related meetings.