Investments in our nation’s infrastructure should not be criticized as simply more spending. Rather, it is an investment in economic growth and job creation. On an average day, some 43 million tons of goods valued at $29 billion move on the nation’s interconnected network of ports, roads, rails and inland waterways. --For every $1 billion in federal investment in transportation infrastructure, an estimated 27,800 to 34,800 jobs are created. --For every dollar invested in public water and sewer infrastructure services, approximately $8.97 is added to the national economy. We must get America working again and infrastructure investments are a key way to accomplish this goal.
Our infrastructure—and the good policymaking that built it—is a key reason America became an economic superpower. But many of the great decisions, which put us on that trajectory, are now a half-century old. In the last decade, our global economic competitors have led the way in planning and building the transportation networks of the 21st century. Countries around the world have not only started investing more than the United States does today, but they made those financial commitments—of both public and private dollars—on the basis of 21st-century strategies that will equip them to make commanding strides in economic growth over the next 20-25 years. According to the World Economic Forum, the economic competitiveness of America's infrastructure was ranked as number one in the world. Today our infrastructure is ranked number 13.
Unless we make significant changes in our course and direction, our foreign competitors will pass us by, and a real opportunity to restore America’s economic strength will be lost. The American people deserve better.
