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A robust investment in public infrastructure has too often been an American unicorn—desirable yet elusive. Even our vaunted highway system wallowed as an aspirational blueprint for a dozen years before President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.
The phrase “infrastructure week” became a running joke during the last administration as promises failed to result in legislation, year after year. When it comes to repairing our roads and bridges, upgrading our power and communications grids, and preparing for a changing future, we have simply failed to live up to the task.
The needs, to be sure, are vast. The toll on the nation’s roads is staggering—7,500 pedestrians were killed in 2022—demanding greater street and highway safety. One out of three bridges in the U.S. needs repair. Throughout the country, millions of Americans don’t have access to or can’t afford broadband internet service. In excess of 2 million people live without running water or basic plumbing.
For too long, the American public has had to carry on while these deficiencies have gone unattended. The political will has been weak or inattentive, the rewards too far removed from electoral advantage. Policymakers have long bickered over how and how much to pay for infrastructure improvements.
That’s all the more reason to applaud President Joe Biden and the 117th Congress for defying political inertia and passing not one or two, but three, pieces of legislation that clear a path to American renewal. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, American Rescue Plan, and Inflation Reduction Act dedicated more than $1.2 trillion in federal aid not only to rebuild roads, bridges, and rails, but to expand access to high-speed internet, safeguard drinking water,…
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