On the End of Big Infrastructure

"If I were President I would claim the 'Era of big (civil) Infrastructure is over' in the US," writes David Levinson at The Transportationist. "Not that we don’t have big infrastructure, we do, and it isn’t going anywhere soon." 

To elaborate the point, Levinson debunks the potential of large infrastructure projects (i.e., high speed rail, urban transit, renewable energy, smart grid, water supply, and sewer systems) that some might be crossing their fingers for: 

I think the transport investments are unlikely, the water investments are mostly piecemeal replacements, and the energy investments will be a set of many small, decentralized power generators rather than large facilities. In short change is likely to incremental rather than comprehensive.

Levinson doesn't exactly express regret over this state of affairs, rather he argues that "there is no point in spending resources for that given the increasingly high costs and diminishing returns that civil infrastructure faces."

Hat tip to Angie Schmitt for sharing the article.