More than 500 infrastructure projects are pitched to Trump, who will favor private money and speed
More than 500 infrastructure projects are pitched to Trump, who will favor private money and speed
By Tom Scheck, APM Reports
May 11, 2017
President Donald Trump uses a chart illustrating the complexity of gaining regulatory approval construction projects during an event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building April 4, 2017 in Washington, DC. - Win
McNamee/Getty Images
We’ve teamed with APM Reports to track proposed infrastructure projects around the country as President Trump prepares his $1 trillion plan. Here’s the first in a series of stories from our partnership.
As President Trump prepares to release a list of projects that could be included in his $1 trillion infrastructure plan, groups are aggressively lobbying to make the cut. Over the past five months, Trump’s team has been quietly soliciting requests from across the country, triggering a torrent of proposals.
APM Reports has assembled a previously undisclosed list of the more than 500 project requests covering 50 states from governors, consultants, contractors, unions and advisers through public records requests and interviews.
The costs of many projects range into the billions of dollars, a blunt reminder that upgrading or adding to the nation’s infrastructure is an expensive proposition.
Many projects submitted by governors focus on transportation – roads, tunnels and bridges. New York and New Jersey are pushing for a rail tunnel project between New Jersey and New York that could cost as much as $25 billion.
California, on the other hand, wants to rebuild its dams, and 12 states want to bring broadband to their rural areas. Washington wants to rebuild its airport, and Texas wants a waterway improved. Projects such as these have historically been funded by government with the goal of widespread social and economic benefit.
Union leaders, consultants and a campaign adviser to the president are judging a project’s value based on different criteria: Does it include private financing? How many jobs would it create? And would its construction go faster if Trump cleared away regulations and sped up permitting approvals? Some of those projects are transmission electricity lines in the Midwest, a high-speed rail line between Houston and Dallas and a major gas pipeline in Alaska.
And infrastructure consultants are enthusiastically advising investors on how to get noticed when it comes to privatization, and a lot seems in play – airports, health clinics and nursing homes run by the Veterans Administration and low-income housing. In fact, consultants discourage the use of the term “privatization.” Instead, they call it “asset reallocation.”
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