Saturday, December 23, 2017

Will infrastructure be next on the agenda?

The infrastructure has been a problem for as long as I've been paying attention. All of a sudden it's Trump's fault? I did at least a 3 minute search and combining "infrastructure" with names of the last 5 presidents only turned up technology and space travel. And some error pages. But I did find an estimate:

"According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, as of 2013 (the year of its most recent comprehensive report), the United States will need $3.6 trillion by 2020 in infrastructure investment to rebuild, upgrade and maintain roads, bridges, dams, water and wastewater systems, levees, landfills, airports and radar systems, inland waterways, ports, rail, mass transit, public parks, schools and energy systems. Roads and bridges account for the lion’s share.

Let states and counties make their own infrastructure decisions based on their population demands and ability to pay, and make users pay for the projects. We need to reduce or eliminate federal taxpayer contributions to U.S. infrastructure needs. Let users bear the burden for improvements through state or local revenue bonds. Pay off the bonds through user fees collected for miles driven, water consumed, flights taken, (dare I say) children educated, etc." Washington Post, Aug. 19, 2016

The failure to Act Report by the ASCE

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/fact_sheets/2018%20Budget%20Fact%20Sheet_Infrastructure%20Initiative.pdf

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