Now that a 2018 spending bill with a $21-billion hike for infrastructure programs is on the books, it looks like further public-works legislating will come in targeted bills, not a wide-ranging one.
In the first round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant awards under the Trump administration, the Dept. of Transportation has put a major emphasis on rural projects, awarding such proposals more than 60% of the $487.1 million total it distributed.
Industry executives may have hoped the recently passed tax law and President Trump’s promises to fix the nation’s crumbling infrastructure would lead to new superhighways paved with gold.
President Trump’s infrastructure investment proposal has moved to the next step—congressional scrutiny—and faces what looks like a steep uphill path to enactment.
Months of waiting are over as President Trump has finally laid on the table a detailed outline of his long-promised infrastructure investment plan, which the administration says will produce at least $1.5 trillion for transportation, water and other projects over 10 years and trim federal project permitting time to no more than two years.