Michigan did an average to poor job in effectively using $850 million in federal stimulus money it received to create jobs, a report due out Tuesday says.

The report by Smart Growth America suggests
Michigan can create jobs faster by investing more in existing roads and improving public transportation than by putting money into new road projects.

Bill Shreck, director of communications for the Michigan Department of Transportation disputed the findings by the coalition of national state and local organizations working to improve the way in which towns, cities and metropolitan areas are built.

...

Michigan used 81 percent of its stimulus money on existing roads, ranking it 24th amongst the states.
According to SGA, the remaining 19 percent was spent on new roads. Michigan spent only 2.6 percent of its stimulus money on public transportation, ranking it 38th amongst the states, SGA said.
Megan Owens, spokeswoman for Transportation Riders United, claims:

"We spent as much on widening a few miles of M-59 in Oakland County as we did for all of public transportation in southeastern Michigan.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110207/...#ixzz1DJhndnlz

Great job.