Public officials in states that have been cash-strapped for the last number of years have already exhausted internal creativity and innovation. There are just so many ways to do “more with less” and most say they have no new ideas left. In states that enacted fee and tax increases, the total net result was only $9.9 billion in additional revenue. Now lawmakers and budget gurus must explore alternative funding options. That’s because some projects and budget items simply cannot be overlooked, decreased or eliminated.
View this complete Infra Blog post...The Infra Blog
State funding continues to shrink – most large public projects will require alternative types of funding in 2018
Wednesday, December 27th, 2017Guest on The Infra Blog: Robert Bolton, Senior Vice President, Arcadis
Tuesday, December 19th, 2017
We looked at 100 cities on a global basis and not one US city made it into the top 20. The highest ranking city was New York City, and they came in at number 23. Probably the biggest challenge that all of the US cities face is the continued dependency on passenger-car travel. We don’t have nearly as well developed metro systems or transit systems for sharing or using alternative means–whether it’s walking or bicycles or other methods of getting around. That’s the big challenge for the US cities, is to look at how they go about diversifying their transportation options.
View this complete Infra Blog post...Infrastructure projects worth billions hang in limbo as Congress debates tax reform bill
Friday, December 15th, 2017The House bill eliminates Private Activity Bonds (PABs) and Low-income Tax Credits, which are critical to the construction of housing developments. Both bills call for eliminating advanced refinancing bonds. These tax-exempt bonds allow cities to refinance debt. Without advance refinancing bonds, many large projects at the state and local levels of government will be immediately jeopardized. Additionally, the tax reform bill, unless changed, increases the federal deficit and that will trigger $150 billion in automatic cuts to vital transportation and infrastructure investments.
View this complete Infra Blog post...Cities: where the action is…
Monday, December 4th, 2017Many large cities have been so successful in revitalizing downtown areas, it’s now extremely difficult to find parking, to secure restaurant reservations or lease retail space. People wait for years to lease condos in revitalized urban areas and real estate prices have increased significantly. In far too many other American cities, however, downtown areas are anything but vibrant. Some are eyesores because of vacated buildings and a few almost feel like ghost towns. When cities languish, municipal revenues become strained and the downward spiral escalates even more quickly.
View this complete Infra Blog post...Guest on The Infra Blog: Jim Mathews, President and CEO, National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP)
Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017
Jim Mathews is President and CEO of NARP. Before joining NARP, Mathews was Executive Editor of the Aviation Week Intelligence Network. During his 26-year tenure at Aviation Week, he cultivated the company’s digital strategy and led teams that twice won national awards for best news website. Mathews served on the Amtrak Customer Advisory Committee for six […]
View this complete Infra Blog post...Funding flowing to Texas resulting soon in hundreds of immediate contracting opportunities
Thursday, November 9th, 2017When the Hurricane Harvey federal disaster relief funding spigot finally opens in Washington, D.C., Texas cities and counties with recovery projects – some of which will be mega-million dollar projects – are hopeful their projects will be among those funded. And when the funding starts flowing, contracting opportunities will be abundant. Private-sector firms throughout the country willing to bring their experience and resources to the Texas Gulf Coast will be called on to contract with public-sector entities to help with the rebuilding of Texas.
View this complete Infra Blog post...Freight Rail is a Driver of Innovation
Monday, November 6th, 2017Even in a nation’s capital typically behind the curve on technological matters, autonomy and self-driving automobiles continue to grab headlines. Case in point: The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation passed a bill unanimously in October crafted to expedite the testing and deployment of partly and fully autonomous vehicles. While the bill must still pass the full Senate, a similar bill in the U.S. House of Representatives has already passed. Both measures have the same goals in mind – adjust traditional car standards to allow greater room for innovation and technological advancement by carmakers and give the federal government the ultimate authority on related governance.
View this complete Infra Blog post...Startup firms partnering with government? Really?
Tuesday, October 31st, 2017Written by Mary Scott Nabers President and CEO, Strategic Partnerships Inc. Startup companies of all types are hot topics today. They excite investors because some offer great revenue potential. The media loves to write about them and economic development organizations try to attract them because of the jobs they create. Small businesses are the backbone […]
View this complete Infra Blog post...Guest on The Infra Blog: Namrita Kapur, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Wednesday, October 25th, 2017
Our systems and services in infrastructure are pretty compromised right now, especially in areas that have been subject to extreme weather events. But even if they haven’t, we’ve got a lot of infrastructure that, frankly, is falling apart. We haven’t done a good job of maintaining it, and we don’t have enough resources to maintain or resuscitate that infrastructure. So the reason this is important is because it creates a path for being able to address that issue. To create the type of infrastructure that we need to provide energy security, safe drinking water, reliable transportation, all the services and needs we have from our day to day infrastructure that we aren’t receiving right now through our public sector.
View this complete Infra Blog post...Citizens will hopefully get involved in this issue
Tuesday, October 17th, 2017Just a week ago, the president started walking back his often-stated commitment to use $200 billion in federal funding to leverage another $800 billion in private capital and other non-federal funds for an infrastructure plan. Word from the Beltway this week is that a new “outline of principles” for an infrastructure plan will be forthcoming from the Trump administration, possibly in the next week or so.
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