We did several interviews and shot video of the construction.

We returned to the site of the New Hampshire Avenue project a month later, in May.  

We found the road repair well under way.  We were able to interview several of the American Infrastructure supervisors and workers, about the project and the stimulus program.

This section of New Hampshire Avenue in Montgomery County, Maryland would be the first location in the country where ARRA-funded "shovels would hit the road."

We learned that work had been held up a few weeks, as road construction and repair in this area of the country usually stops during April, which is rainy season there.

So we arranged to come back when the repair job resumed in May.

As those of us at the Learning Worlds Institute became interested in telling stories about how communities and workers would be affected by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we decided to investigate this further.

We learned that the contractor awarded the project, now designated as New Hampshire Avenue Project 650, was American Infrastructure, and contacted their Director of Government Affairs, Mark P. Compton, to find out more information. He put us in contact with Charlie Gischler and David Buck from the Maryland State Highway Administration, who connected us to the folks actually handling the project in Montgomery County.

President Obama announces the first highway project to receive funding under the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, calling it the "most sweeping economic recovery plan in history... to put Americans back to work and put money in their pockets." As reported on CNN, Secretary of Labor Ray LaHood revealed that work would begin on a project to resurface Maryland State Highway 650, "a very busy road that has not been fully repaired in 17 years."