Shovel Ready

(Fox News) - We've heard a lot of talk about "shovel ready" projects in the stimulus. But a civil engineering professor at Cal-Berkeley questions whether requiring projects to start within just a few months of the bill's passage is a good idea.

He tells Popular Mechanics magazine, "If you want to patch some potholes in the road, this is a good program. But if you're hoping for anything long-term with this approach, throw away all hope. It can't happen."

The magazine says the projects that do qualify are mostly ones that are unambitious, outdated or irrelevant.