For many years some idiot with a sucky blue blog kept suggesting that contrary to popular delusion, there were many "shovel ready projects." Specifically, you could dig up just about every street in the nation and replace the pipes and it would be a worthwhile project.
In the specific context of the stimulus, there was reason to be focused on "shovel ready projects," but I don't think the people who were focused on them knew what they were doing. This was an obvious one.
