CED unveils plan for improving U.S. infrastructure

The Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board said deferred maintenance and a growing gap between investment needs and available funds threaten the ability of our roads and bridges to deliver safe, reliable transportation.    The Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board (CED) issued a report with recommendations for improving roads and bridges across the United States.
   The report, dubbed Fixing America’s Roads & Bridges: The Path Forward, noted how the national highway system carriers more than 40 percent of highway traffic, 75 percent of heavy truck traffic and 90 percent of all tourist traffic.
   However, deferred maintenance and a growing gap between investment needs and available funds threaten the ability of our roads and bridges to deliver safe, reliable transportation, according to the report.
   To address these challenges, the report includes the following recommendations:
     • Encourage more private-sector participation in road building and maintenance;
     • Improve project selection and foster “modal coordination” across systems;
     • Streamline regulatory review and permitting at all levels;
     • Invest in technology;
     • Move toward user fees to fund roads and bridges;
     • And inform and educate the public.
   “The objectives of these policies are to return America’s roads and bridges to a state of good repair, to construct new capacity where most needed, and to develop approaches to road funding that are sustainable over the long term,” the report said.
   The report comes after discussions by Congress and the president to boost investments in repairing, expanding and modernizing the country’s infrastructure.
   In March, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released its 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, grading our nation’s infrastructure as a D+ overall. The ASCE suggested that to close the $2 trillion, 10-year investment gap, meet future need, and restore the nation’s global competitive advantage, investment from all levels of government and the private sector must be increased from 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent of U.S. GDP by 2025.
   Meanwhile, in May, U.S. Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Mark Warner, D-Va., reintroduced legislation to improve the nation’s infrastructure, dubbed the Building and Renewing Infrastructure for Development and Growth in Employment (BRIDGE) Act.
   “The BRIDGE Act offers a bold, bipartisan solution to help address our infrastructure needs by incentivizing private investment and pairing it with public resources,” Warner said. “This legislation will set a clear framework that will help create jobs, expand U.S. commerce and trade, and keep American businesses competitive.”