The nonpartisan National Governors Association (NGA) recently released its Principles for National Infrastructure Investment, which highlights four principles to guide state governments as they discuss infrastructure funding, reform and innovation with Congress and the White House.
The four principles are to embrace new practices and technologies that provide innovative solutions to traditional infrastructure needs, to fix, expand and modernize existing infrastructure, to create certainty and stability in long-term federal resources and to streamline project delivery while increasing transparency and achieving environmental protection.
“America’s governors have led on innovative policies to build and fund their states’ infrastructure needs, but the burden of modernizing and maintaining the nation’s infrastructure cannot be left only to states and local government,” Scott D. Pattison, NGA CEO and executive director, said. “All levels of government must partner to invest in quality infrastructure and to provide for shared prosperity and quality of life for the current and future generations.”
U.S. investment in infrastructure peaked in the 1930s, according to the Congressional Research Service. Eighty years ago, investment was approximately 4.2 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). In 2016, investment was 1.5 percent of GDP.
Increased government infrastructure spending generally results in higher economic output, the service said.