Ellington

With the U.S. spending $27 billion in infrastructure projects as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ProPublica wants to know how those projects are doing. The independent, non-profit Internet newsroom is looking for volunteers to adopt projects, investigate and report on them.

The billions in federal dollars will repair roads and bridges, and are estimated to create 765,000 jobs of the 3.5 million promised by the Obama administration. You have probably heard accounts of how the billions will be spent. A bridge here. A road there. But what's the big picture? Will repaving highways and bolstering overpasses create as many jobs as the administration says? Are they wise investments, reconstruction projects for the 21st century?

That's why we're asking ProPublica's readers to hit the pavement this summer. Chances are your daily commute already takes you by a road or a bridge that will be fixed with stimulus money. Would you volunteer to monitor a project?

ProPublica says they will provide instructions, guidance and, of course, full credit for your work. Also, all of ProPublica's reporting is published under a Creative Commons license, meaning that publications and bloggers can reprint it in full. For more information, to find local projects, and to sign up, go to the ProPublica Web site. And let us know if you'll be participating.