Census Will Determine Where How Staggering Amounts of Dollars are Spent in Next Decade

More than $675 billion in federal funds are spent annually on critical transportation services alone

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WASHINGTON D.C. (Texas Insider Report) Next time youre on your morning commute merging on to a freeway or crossing a bridge think of the upcoming census. Your responses to the 2020 Census which includes counting every person living in the United States may help decide when and where roads and bridges will be built in Texas.

Billions of dollars in federal funds more than $675 billion are spent annually on critical transportation services in communities across the country including maintenance and construction of roads and bridges.

The 2020 Census count will inform spending decisions for the next decade.

Among the federal programs tied to census statistics are the Department of Transportation (DOT)s Highway Planning & Construction Program and the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)s Community Development Block Grants.

The impact of just these two programs is staggering.

In 2015 alone the U.S. Department of Transportation distributed more than $38 billion through the Highway Planning and Construction program the fourth largest amount of federal assistance informed by census statistics that year.

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The annual HUD grants also provide billions in discretionary funding that local governments can choose to use to improve their infrastructure.

Both programs support construction and maintenance of the countrys 4.1 million miles of public roads which the American Society of Civil Engineers has said are in such poor shape that they earned a D" in its 2017 Nationwide Infrastructure Report Card.

  • Watch this video to understand how 2020 Census data will be used.
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