Funding/Financing

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the House has been poised for months to introduce a six-year, $500 billion bill to cover highway and public transit construction, repair and safety. It has been thwarted by the Senate and the White House, reluctant to take up another massive spending bill that may require a tax increase of its own at a time when people are talking about $1 trillion in spending for health care.

However, on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 the House of Representatives is expected to extend existing surface and air transportation programs through the end of the year.

A national poll released shows that 94 percent of Americans support a national effort to build up the country's infrastructure.   One caveat in the support for infrastructure spending, however, is how the projects are developed. More than half of Americans in the poll say that either the accountability or the transparency of the projects is their most important consideration in public works spending.

While many states are keeping their project lists secret, plans that have surfaced show why environmentalists and some development experts say much of the stimulus spending may promote urban sprawl while scrimping on more green-friendly rail and mass transit.

What do you think the new Transportation Secretary's top five priorities should be for updating the law to meet the nation's 21st-century transportation needs?

President-elect Barack Obama will propose early next year an economic-stimulus package three times larger than one he was discussing only weeks ago, with the main focus on infrastructure.

The credit crisis on Wall Street could further delay new plants already beleaguered by climate change concerns and soaring construction costs. Over the past two years, 76 new coal plants were delayed.

Building America’s Future, led by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor Ed Rendell and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, called on Congress to stimulate the economy by investing in ready- to-go infrastructure projects that, if funded, could immediately put Americans back to work.

The Dow Jones Infrastructure Summit 2008 Roundup held on May 13, 2008 in New York, NY, explored the various issues associated with investing in infrastructure in the U.S.

Harsh critics of the state of U.S. infrastructure -- roads, bridges, tunnels, rail systems, waterways, dams, power grid, relay towers, water facilities -- often use the adjective "crumbling" to describe this infrastructure. More polite critics use the adjective "aging." It is the same in Canada.  New study says $200 billion needed to shore up Canada's infrastructure in order to keep private sector competitive.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is sponsoring a contest for images that illustrate America's infrastructure. ASCE is looking for your point of view on the crumbling conditions of the infrastructure in your neighborhood or the creative ways an infrastructure problem has been solved. Submissions should depict the condition of current infrastructure in the 15 categories that will be evaluated for the 2009 Report Card for America's Infrastructure. One winner in each of the 15 categories will be selected to receive a $100 cash prize. One image will be selected for the overall Grand Prize of $1,000.