June 7, 2010 | Austin News | No Comments
by JESSICA VESS & STEVE ALBERTS / KVUE News

kvue.com

Billions of federal dollars are being spent in Central Texas to spur the economy and push job growth. A chunk of the money is going toward the construction of the new U.S. Courthouse in Downtown Austin. The construction began late last year. It’s funded by the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Since the work began the noises on the site have remained loud and continuous. The construction hasn’t slowed down. “This building could not be happening right now if but for the Recovery Act,” said Congressman Lloyd Doggett. “The Recovery Act provided all of the money that is going into the work.” Hundreds of people earned jobs when construction started on the new courthouse. The Recovery and Reinvestment Act covers the cost it takes to hire those workers.

“We’re talking about a couple thousand jobs that were a result from the construction of this building,” said Doggett.General Services Administration, GSA, is helping lead the project. GSA invested $5.5 billion through the Recovery and Reinvestment Act to convert and build federal buildings like the one in downtown Austin. White Construction Company is overseeing the Austin based project. “It’s the largest of the federal projects that are coming up under the Recovery Act,” said Doggett.

White Construction says its focus is to continue the growth the Act and GSA spurred. The materials and employees White Construction is using are based out of Central Texas. ”It’s the right thing to do. If you live in Central Texas; trade with Central Texas. You have good crafts here. You’ve got good people here. There’s no sense. We have been in Austin for 22 years. We have done enough work here to have a very good alliance with sub-contractors probably over 4-6,000 vendors here,” said Bill Farnum. Lawmakers passed the Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009. President Obama signed it into law just four days later. The goal all along has been to rebuild from the economic turmoil many were facing. It has three purposes: create new jobs, spur economic activity, and do so in a transparent manner so that others can see exactly where the money is going. As the progress continues on the U.S. Courthouse in Austin the impact of the funding is easy to see. Management on the site says the project is on time. The building is being designed to achieve a silver certification level for sustainable and green design.