In a press conference this morning at the U.S. Department of Transportation, President Barack Obama announced the release of the first $26.6 billion in transportation construction money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The $787 billion act was signed into law two weeks ago. 

Obama said the released money would help create 150,000 jobs nationwide, and the funds needed to be spent within 120 days.

In conjunction with that release, the government website which is tracking the funding of projects with ARRA money, released the money amounts targeted for each state and the urban areas. For Michigan, the list looks like this:

Details of Urban Area Distribution (Population over 200 K) for Michigan

Urban Area

Amount ($ Million)
Ann Arbor $7.26
Detroit $99.82
Flint $9.34
Grand Rapids $13.79
Lansing $7.67
South Bend $0.87
Toledo $0.70
Total $139.46

Why Toledo, Ohio and South Bend, Indiana are included in the Michigan areas is unknown. Michigan Messenger is working on getting lists of which projects will be funded and when they are expected to start construction.