According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, despite increases in federal commitments to transportation and water infrastructure, state and local governments still face challenges in keeping up with the growing backlog of needed repairs or upfront investments needed to modernize public infrastructure.
An analysis by Pew found that while state and local governments spend nearly $500 million annually on infrastructure, only about a quarter is paid for through federal grants. That spending, the organization said, includes new projects as well as upkeep and operating costs for roads, bridges, and public transit systems, as well as state and locally managed water resources.
The trust cited a 2019 report from the Volcker Alliance that estimated costs for delayed repairs and maintenance has grown to nearly $1 trillion, or about 5 percent of America’s gross domestic product (GDP). In 2022, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated those costs could be twice that amount.
Additionally, Pew said, climate changes like rising temperatures, rising sea levels, and increased precipitation will affect infrastructure systems. The organization said estimates how much it will take to make core public services like access to clean water more resilient range in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The organization attributed the gap between funding for critical maintenance and capital investment and resources to pay for them to the decline in federal spending on infrastructure since the 1980s. The decline came after a peak in capital and infrastructure spending in the mid-1970s when the federal government invested in expansions to the national highway system and improvements to clean water programs.
With the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, federal spending remains at 2.4 percent of GDP, leaving state and local governments to take on an increasing share of the costs. The new spending levels are half a percent less than what they were when spending peaked in the 1970s at 3 percent, the Congressional Budget Office said.