On February 17, 2009 President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Act called for federal tax cuts, expansion of unemployment benefits and other social welfare provisions. It also would increase domestic spending in education, healthcare, and infrastructure. In total, the act is worth about a whopping $787 billion.

After little over a year, what has the stimulus package brought to Missouri, more specifically, the St. Louis Metropolitan area so far? For starters, the Army Corps of Engineers has received a lot of money for infastructure repair from the package. The corps was appropriated $4.6 altogether. The St. Louis district decided to focus on four critical missions such as flood risk

Ongoing construction work in the St. Louis area is being funded by money appropriated to the city by the federal stimulus package that went into effect in 2009.

management, navigation management, environmental support, and civilian recreation sites. More specifically, the money will be used to maintain levees, floodwalls, locks along the Mississippi River, wildlife sanctuaries and large area lakes.“There are two things that decide which projects receive stimulus funding,” said Michael Dace of the Army Corp of Engineers. “One decision maker is, what Congress and the president tell us to complete and after that we decide ourselves, which projects need the money and the work the most after that.”

One improvement that is being made in the flood risk management category is to the St. Louis Flood Protection System. The flood protection system is better known as the two walls on each side of the steps of the Gateway Arch. In terms of lake improvements, the corps is making tremendous improvements to Mark Twain Lake by relocating its business center and maintenance improvements to the Carlyle Damn in Illinois. The Army Corps of Engineers has made and is still making a lot of improvements to American society so far through the stimulus package by creating approximately 57,400 construction jobs directly and another 64,000 jobs indirectly in firms supplying or supporting the construction. One stimulus project that is soon to come is the Chicago-St. Louis high speed rail line. The rail line will link the two cities together through a 110 mph train going both ways. The state of Illinois will get $1.1 billion to make track improvements that will enable the 110 mph passenger line.

“I really hope that this project will actually get built,” freshman Lindsey Berman said. “I think it would create a lot of jobs and also bring a lot of tourist from Chicago to St. Louis and the other way around.”
One individual that is really pushing for the development of the program is President Obama. Obama believes that it will create a lot of jobs and otherwise stimulate the economy. Obama stressed the need for creating more jobs and made it his number one priority for the new year.

One company that is not always recognized for its doings that received a lot of money is MODOT (Missouri Department of Transportation). MODOT received almost $788 million for transportation projects. Specifically, in St. Louis that money is being spent to help make repairs to local area highways and the St. Louis City Port for dock improvements. Some highways in the St. Louis Metro area that are being repaired using stimulus money are Highway 70, the Maryland Heights Expressway, and Route 141.
“Not only is this project creating jobs for Americans but it also makes me feel safe on the roads, knowing that the roads are up to date and nobody can get hurt,” sophomore Sam Fox said. “These new repairs and maintenance checks have not just brought good to our community, but they have made it a safer environment for travel.”
It has only been a year since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has been in effect, but only two-thirds of the money has been distributed, which still leaves more to come.