Written by Mary Scott Nabers
President and CEO, Strategic Partnerships Inc.

Infrastructure experts are calling the $21.2 billion in new federal infrastructure funding in the omnibus federal spending bill “a good first step.” But, they know all too well that it’s only a “tip of the iceberg” solution. Sadly, the additional funding for infrastructure projects is woefully short of what’s needed.

The nation’s infrastructure continues to deteriorate, the costs for renewal and repairs continue to rise and the timeline for Congress to put together a national infrastructure funding plan remains a question mark. All this when the American Society of Civil Engineers’ most recent estimate is that the nation’s infrastructure is in dire need of $4.6 trillion in repairs and upgrades. The $21.1 billion in new federal funds appears to be the proverbial drop in what appears to be a seemingly bottomless bucket.

While the allocated funding in the spending bill is earmarked for infrastructure projects, the projects can include airports, highways, water and wastewater treatment plants and health facilities for veterans.

Of the $21.2 billion in new spending, the biggest piece of the pie – $8.78 billion – is allocated to transportation projects, according to data from the House Committee on Appropriations. The bill states that $3.5 billion will be available for highway, road and bridge projects.

Railways get the second-highest award of funding – $3.1 billion. Rail funding, like many other categories of transportation, includes funding that will come from grant programs. In addition to $1.9 billion for Amtrak projects, $250 million each has been awarded for State of Good Repair Grants and Positive Train Control Grants.

Another $1 billion in airport funding will also come from discretionary airport grants, many of which will be awarded to small and rural airports. This will be totally inadequate as the American Society for Civil Engineers estimates that $100 billion is needed over the next five years.

Rural communities got the nod, too, with additional funding for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program and also for rural broadband expansion. Rural areas, where the digital divide still exists, will benefit from $625 million for broadband upgrades. TIGER grants will see an additional $1 billion and approximately 30 percent of the TIGER awards will go to rural communities. These grants are extremely popular at the state and local levels of government for road, transit, maritime and rail projects. Also, additional grant funding of $200 million is being made available for Capital Investment Grants, which also help pay for transit projects.

Most of the additional $1.4 billion set aside for water infrastructure will be used for Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation water resources infrastructure projects. About $918 million will go toward projects relating to flood control, water supply, ports and waterways. Another $500 million will be dedicated to grants for drinking water and waste disposal system construction and upgrades.

Additionally, the funding bill doubles the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) funding, which provides low-interest, long-term federal loans to communities seeking to replace and expand water and wastewater infrastructure. 

A number of other individual awards are part of the infrastructure funding, including new construction and facilities projects at numerous federal agencies. And maintenance projects at the nation’s U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities throughout the nation are also funded in the bill.

In spite of the additional funding for infrastructure in the omnibus bill, still no long-term solutions to the country’s infrastructure problems exist and the funding shortages that have plagued U.S. infrastructure are far from over. More funding from other sources will be required.

There is little mention for social infrastructure projects at the state and local levels of government. That means that public facilities that are outdated, inefficient and woefully inadequate were overlooked.  Local public officials will be seeking alternative funding options because public assets such as courthouses, office buildings, research labs on university campuses and public school buildings cannot continue to be neglected.  In many instances, the upkeep on aging public facilities costs taxpayers more in the long run than building new facilities will cost.

Private-sector investors, foundations, public pension funds and large banks all offer alternative funding options.  Private-sector contracting coalitions that bring capital, leading edge technology, experience and expertise to large, complex infrastructure projects of any type should be considered.  It is obvious to any observer that only through collaboration can America’s infrastructure be upgraded and enhanced. When public-private partnerships become the norm, citizens are likely to see America again become the envy of the world.

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Mary Scott Nabers is president and CEO of Strategic Partnerships Inc., a business development company specializing in government contracting and procurement consulting throughout the U.S. Her recently released book, Inside the Infrastructure Revolution: A Roadmap for Building America, is a handbook for contractors, investors and the public at large seeking to explore how public-private partnerships or joint ventures can help finance their infrastructure projects.

Tags: Mary Scott Nabers, PPPs, Public-Private Partnerships, Strategic Partnerships Inc., WIFIA

This entry was posted on Monday, March 26th, 2018 at 11:25 am and is filed under Drinking Water, Funding, Guest Post, National, Policy, Wastewater, Water Treatment . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.