On the cusp of a new infrastructure proposal from the White House, how has federal spending changed over the last 70 years? What will it take to reach historical averages?
Following up on this article published for Infrastructure Week last year, Jeff Davis takes a look at federal infrastructure spending with an eye for what it would take to match historical levels. For the most part, these numbers look at federal grants as a percentage of total U.S. GDP.
Some highlights from the latter half of the 20th century include the 1956 Interstate Highway law, tripling infrastructure grants as a share of GDP, as well as the 1972 Clean Water Act, "which provided an at-the-time staggering amount of $18 billion in general fund contract authority for sewer grants, and the 1970 and 1974 mass transit laws."
Davis notes that the apparent decline in water grants during the 1980s is misleading: "in 1987, the Clean Water Act switched away from making sewer grants to localities and instead started using federal money to endow state revolving funds to make low-interest loans to localities."
Today, Davis concludes, "equivalent total spending to hit the 1957-1986 average would be $92 billion per year, the total spending to maintain the average of the last 30 years (1987-2016) would be $69 billion per year, and the total spending to maintain the average spending level of the last 60 years would be $80.7 billion per year."
Read the full story: Infrastructure Week Preview – Federal Infrastructure Grants: How to Get Back to “Average?”
The Path to Hyperdensity
The federal government has an opportunity to make a generational investment in the country's infrastructure that could fundamentally shift the way we live and move around cities.
Trump's Infrastructure and Budget Plans Spell Doom for the Highway Trust Fund
Analysis from the Center for American Progress breaks down the fallout in funding and job losses to the state level, if policies proposed in the Trump Administration's infrastructure plan and its proposed budget for fiscal year 2018 are adopted.
Op-Ed: On the Pitfalls of Federal Spending
Charles Marohn of Strong Towns makes the case that whoever's in the White House, simply increasing federal spending on infrastructure isn't the wisest move.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Nation's most wind-powered state turns to coal as data centers increase energy demand
For the first time in decades, Iowa has increased its generation of coal power.
Alabama scores up to $2.5 billion federal loan for largest infrastructure project in state’s history
The Mobile River Bridge and Bayway Project aims to ease congestion at Alabama’s worst bottleneck.
Trump is considering data centers on 6 states' public land — some state officials say they had no idea
If the administration approves the proposed projects, data center and data center-related developments will cover 17,600 acres of public land.
Despite court ruling, Trump is keeping nearly all wind projects in the US on hold
At least 110 wind energy projects have not heard from the government since a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration's freeze on wind turbine clearances was likely illegal.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello