How to Improve America's Infrastructure in Four Easy Steps

When it comes to improving U.S. infrastructure, "regulatory and political issues stall the process, prolonging construction and development," according to Palter's article. "Some of this is inevitable and positive, such as improved environmental planning and better safety standards. But in too many cases, projects undergo death by a thousand meetings. Most solutions to these process problems have tended to be legislative in nature (e.g., PPP frameworks, new infrastructure delivery organizations, creative tax or financing structures) and generally fail to get implemented or get implemented in a sub-optimal manner."

Drilling down on some of the specifics, here are a few examples of how to improve the planning process (the article goes into a lot more detail in these areas:

• Shorten the planning process
• Shift risk toward the private sector
• Be a pioneer
• Think about how not to build