How Infrastructure Shapes Public Trust

In an opinion piece in Governing, municipal engineer Larry M. Summers describes “how infrastructure quietly shapes public trust” by providing — or not — unobtrusive but critical components of a functional city.

A well-maintained curb ramp or crosswalk might not make the news, but its presence tells a story: Someone thought of you. And its absence tells another.

Summers emphasizes that code compliance does not equal full accessibility. “A perfectly code-compliant sidewalk may still force someone in a wheelchair into the street if the ramp is misaligned. A transit shelter may technically meet specs but fail to provide shade in the hours it's needed most.”

For Summers, ensuring that public infrastructure serves the people who need it is a matter of public ethics. “Ethical infrastructure doesn’t require perfection. But it does require intention. And in a time when trust in public systems is fraying, we should be doing everything we can to build it back.”