A rendering of the planned bridge. (Credit: Washington State Dept. of Transportation)

That's the underlying question in this story today by Bloomberg News' Dina Bass, who reports that a bridge connecting one side of Microsoft's campus to another will get $11 million of the $214 million that President Obama's stimulus package allots to the Seattle region for roads and bridges.

The bridge over state Route 520, connecting Northeast 36th and 31st streets, is being planned in conjunction with Microsoft's larger campus expansion. Bloomberg reports that local planners are directing the $11 million to the project. Overall, Microsoft is contributing nearly half of the $36.5 million project cost.

Still, Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, tells Bloomberg that the bridge isn't an appropriate use of the federal stimulus money: "I’m sure Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates could finance this out of pocket change. ... Subsidizing an overpass to one of the richest companies in the country certainly isn’t going to be the best use of our precious dollars."

A Microsoft spokesman and the city of Redmond tell the news service that the project will relieve congestion and improve mobility in the broader neighborhood, not just on the Microsoft campus.

(Via Ben Romano of the Seattle Times.)