The FAA shutdown's domino effect

[marmar]

from Transportation Nation:



When the Federal Aviation Administration shut down at midnight on Friday, 4,000 workers were immediately furloughed. In the greater New York City area alone, 646 employees at the agency’s tech center in Atlantic City and 125 workers in New York have been told to not show up to work. But the effects of the shutdown are spreading far beyond the agency’s employees.

Construction company managers are turning workers away who show up for a day’s work — while air traffic controllers say they feel like “political pawns.”

The US Department of Transportation says New Jersey has lost $44.7 million for airport projects across the state and New York has lost $62.6 million. Projects that have been issued stop work orders include a $20 million runway safety project at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport and a $10 million security bollards project at LaGuardia Airport.

Another job that’s on hold: a $6 million teardown of an old air traffic control tower at LaGuardia — a project singled out by US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as a galling example of congressional inaction. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://transportationnation.org/2011/07/26/faa-shutdown-workers-turned-away-air-traffic-workers-frustrated/