The Political Infrastructure We Need Now

By: Philip K. Howard

Breathtakingly ambitious: That’s how many observers describe the $2 trillion infrastructure proposal unveiled by President Biden last week. It contains scores of programs aimed at updating America’s obsolete infrastructure and addressing climate change: $213 billion for affordable housing, $174 billion for electric vehicle incentives, $115 billion for roads and bridges, $111 billion for clean water, $100 billion for electric grid and clean energy, $100 billion for high-speed broadband, $85 billion for mass transit, $80 billion for rail, and much more. …

Add it all up, and it seems too good to be true. What’s the catch? Actually, almost all of these projects could be good investments if done properly. Republicans and Democrats alike have been calling for infrastructure funding for years now. For more than a decade, industry groups, economists and members of Congress come together annually for “Infrastructure Week.”

But so far almost nothing has happened, mainly because political leaders focus on goals and have come up with no trusted mechanism to actually implement large-scale infrastructure investment. Distrust about delays, waste and favoritism mean that projects don’t get off the ground.

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