New research to cut across infrastructure types

   The Urban Institute has established a multi-dimensional Infrastructure Initiative designed to inform the public and government officials about the important tradeoffs in developing, operating, maintaining and financing the nation’s core systems that support society.
   The research effort will examine the fiscal, social and environmental costs and benefits of policy choices at all levels of government related to transportation, electrical, water, sewer, wireless and broadband networks. 
   The Infrastructure Initiative is headed by Sandra Rosenbloom, a professor of planning at the University of Arizona and chairman of the National Research Council’s Transportation Research Board.
   Urban Institute officials said the goal is to go beyond analyzing the technical merits or engineering issues of specific sectors or projects and answer systemic questions related to cost, equity, economic and environmental impact, and risks.
   The Infrastructure Initiative will compare the economic payoffs from alternative infrastructure investments, document who pays and who benefits, develop tools for performance measurement and management, evaluate the effectiveness and equity of user fees and other demand management techniques, comment on innovative financing techniques and analyze the risks and rewards of public-private partnership models.
   The Urban Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan policy research and educational organization based in Washington.