President-elect Donald Trump has promised to boost infrastructure investment by $550 billion-$1 trillion because there is supposedly an “infrastructure crisis.” Never mind that the number of structurally deficient bridges has been steadily declining for 25 years while pavement roughness has been improving. If there is a transportation “infrastructure crisis,” it exists due to a failure to maintain mass transit facilities and municipal streets, neither of which can be fixed by increasing federal capital spending (as a general rule, maintenance projects and non-National Highway System road segments are ineligible for these funds).
A sketch of this plan by Trump advisors Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro can be found here. The Trump transition website touts the $550 billion figure. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has pledged to “work together [with Trump] to quickly pass a robust infrastructure jobs bill.”
Read Full Article »