Finally, infrastructure’s moment may soon arrive in U.S. politics, but will critical projects such as replacing 19th-century sewer lines get the attention they deserve?

Even as hard-hit areas of two of the country’s most developed regions push for normalcy after back-to-back hurricanes in early September, policymakers and construction industry experts are weighing the longer-term implications of the damage in Houston, Florida and the Caribbean from Harvey and Irma—and how and whether infrastructure resiliency can be accelerated and how that will affect coastal development.

'Clearly, the situation ... is dire,' says one Houston subcontractor.