WASHINGTON, DC-One of the elements of President Barack Obama’s jobs bill is infrastructure development. "There are private construction companies all across America just waiting to get to work," he said when he outlined the $447 billion proposal in September.

"There's a bridge that needs repair between Ohio and Kentucky that's on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America. A public transit project in Houston that will help clear up one of the worst areas of traffic in the country. And there are schools throughout this country that desperately need renovating."

On Tuesday, the administration named 14 projects it plans to expedite through permitting and environment review processes. Just that step alone--streamlining the environmental review process for these projects--will put thousands of construction workers on the job sooner rather than later, a spokesman for Associated General Contractors of America tells GlobeSt.com. "Speaking more broadly, it is unfortunate that it takes a special act by the President to accelerate projects that everyone agrees are essential for our economic vitality," he adds. The AGC just reported that construction employers added 26,000 jobs between August and September--the first significant change in construction employment levels since February.

One example of the streamlining the administration has taken to push projects through the approval process is a November 2010 guidance issued by the Council on Environmental Quality. This provided exclusions of routine categories--like facility maintenance--that do not need to undergo intensive environmental review as they normally would under the National Environmental Protection Act because they do not have a significant environmental impact. As a result, the Administration accelerated the permitting and construction of seven proposed electric transmission lines on federal lands. 

Click here for a link to the 14 projects.