![]() Despite significant allocations earmarked for transit agencies, airports, and Amtrak in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, 5 As Congress considers further infrastructure spending, it should seek to balance the short-term need to maintain employment and activity-the role of shovel-ready projects-with the large-scale ambition to build such transformative projects.Ĭongress has passed three separate relief packages, totaling more than $2 trillion, to address the economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. While that helped clear out maintenance backlogs (thus improving existing assets and extending their life spans), it did not greatly expand US capital stock or build the kind of projects that could durably strengthen economic competitiveness, as the interstate-highway system, the California State Water Project, and the Washington, DC, Metrorail system did. ![]() The legislation, passed in response to the financial crisis, gave priority to “shovel ready” projects-those that could be completed within three years. Infrastructure spending was a key part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). In 2019, the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) estimated that fully closing the infrastructure gap could translate into 1.2 percent more jobs across the economy. 4įailure to Act: Closing the infrastructure investment gap for America’s economic future, American Society of Civil Engineers, 2016, .Īnd that figure may now be an underestimate: public-infrastructure federal, state, and local spending was only 2.3 percent of GDP in 2017 (the latest year for which figures are available)-a record low. In 2016, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated that the United States had an unfunded infrastructure gap of more than $2 trillion (Exhibit 1). 3Ĭhristopher Jones et al., A preventable crisis: The economic and human costs of a Hudson River rail tunnel shutdown, Regional Plan Association, February 2019, rpa.org. A partial shutdown of the 111-year-old Hudson River rail tunnel in New York, for example, could cost the economy $16 billion and 33,000 jobs, according to the Regional Plan Association. The need for more and better infrastructure is acute. “Employment impacts of highway infrastructure investment,” US Federal Highway Administration, June 18, 2020, .īeyond the numbers, infrastructure is critical to the health and well-being of the country: the United States could not function without the roads, bridges, sewers, clean water, and airports previous generations paid for. The US Council of Economic Advisers has calculated that $1 billion of transportation-infrastructure investment supports 13,000 jobs for a year. 1Įstimated impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on employment and economic output in 2014, Congressional Budget Office, February 20, 2015, cbo.gov. In 2015, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that every dollar spent on infrastructure brought an economic benefit of up to $2.20. Please email us at: is little doubt about the value of investing in good infrastructure. ![]() If you would like information about this content we will be happy to work with you. We strive to provide individuals with disabilities equal access to our website.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |