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A Smart Investment to Fuel Economic Growth By John Robert Smith Aninfrastructureplanwithastrictfocuson repaircouldhelpputpeoplebacktowork whilefixingaperpetualsourceoffrustration
A Smart Investment to Fuel Economic Growth
by JOHN ROBERT SMITH
In 1961, President Kennedy declared that the U.S. which are the easiest to pump money into — are not wellwould put a man on the moon before the end of the dedesigned to maximize job creation. cade. At the time, that goal may have seemed impossibly Research consistently finds that on average, road repair far-fetched, but with the Soviet Union challenging our suproduces 16 percent more jobs per dollar than new road periority in space, the nation rallied around that vision. And construction. Yet states keep using their funding to build in 1969, Neil Armstrong made "one giant leap for mannew roads instead of repairing what we have. An infrastruckind" and inspired a generation of ture plan with a strict focus on reAmericans. pair could help put people back
Yet in the decades since, to work while fixing a perpetual America stopped dreaming big. source of frustration. Even in the face of a widely recEven more effective though ognized infrastructure crisis, nawould be investments in public tional representatives from both transportation, like buses, subparties eschew plans for price ways, commuter rail, and passentags, each one bigger than the last. ger rail. These investments — both Vague promises take the place of in new capacity and maintenance inspiring visions. — create the most jobs per dollar,
But vague promises aren't even more than road repair. A dolenough. Our leaders, with few lar spent on public transportation exceptions, have been kicking the from the 2009 stimulus produced proverbial maintenance can down 70 percent more job hours than the road for decades and the cona dollar spent on highways. And sequences are catching up to us. public transportation is chroniOur roads, bridges, and transit cally underfunded at the federal systems that people use everyday John Robert Smith level, leaving ample opportunities have a backlog of deferred mainto build out more useful transtenance that will cost an estimated portation networks that will bear $640 billion altogether. Research consistently fruits long after the construction
We're also facing the worst finds that, on average, is finished. economic downturn since the Great Depression due to COVroad repair produces In the face of unprecedented unemployment and a worsening ID-19; Americans need reliable, 16 percent more jobs economic downturn, smart insafe, and affordable connections per dollar than new vestments can produce jobs and to jobs and healthcare now more than ever. Smart investments in road construction. connect people to opportunity. And once the thing is built, it's the our roads and bridges, transit and connections that are made which passenger rail, and other critical provide lasting value. Our nationinfrastructure could help the country recover. al experience with highways proves this point.
The key here is smart investments that will create jobs In the 1950s, we set out to build a national network of and long-term value. In April, Smart Growth America rehighways. Four decades later, the interstate highway sysleased six lessons and recommendations about using infratem was complete. The novel connections created by highstructure investment to stimulate the economy based on an ways brought huge economic benefits, but each new mile of analysis of federal spending during the Great Recession. roadway since has brought diminishing returns while addThe main takeaways: some infrastructure investments creing maintenance costs. And in metropolitan areas, new or ate more jobs than others, and existing federal programs — wider highways actively undermine local economies, par
ticularly in communities of color. that impact across the country: building and improving
The real opportunity today is creating new conneclong-distance "spines" to support a national rail network tions by public transportation and passenger rail that fedwith frequent, regional connections. eral funding has long neglected. In 2015, Senators Roger We face threats as a nation today just as we did nearly Wicker (R-MS) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) worked together six decades ago. Yet instead of Soviets, the challenge we to put funding for passenger face today is an invisible virail into long-term policy for rus. What we're missing is the first time, recognizing the In the face of unprecedented the political imagination and potential that these investments have for the national unemployment and a worsening leadership to set big goals and take us there. We're missing economy. This is a bipartisan economic downturn, smart our Moon shot. issue — or was. investments can produce jobs and Building a reliable, freToday, I fear the federal government is focused connect people to opportunity. quent, and comfortable national transportation system on fracturing and undermincould be that Moon shot. ing our national rail network Combining new public transinstead of improving and expanding service. I recently portation and passenger rail with other investments that worked with the Southern Rail Commission — and Senator focus heavily on repairing our existing road and transit sysWicker — to bring passenger rail back to the Gulf Coast tems would be a winning recipe for this conservative. RF after it was wiped out by Hurricane Katrina 15 years ago. The benefits from a single 130-mile connection between John Robert Smith is the Chairman of Transportation for New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. would outweigh the costs by America, a program of Smart Growth America. He was a more than 15 to 1 due to the economic activity, tourism, and four-term mayor of Meridian, MS, 1993-2009, and served manufacturing this new link will spur. on the Board of Amtrak, 1998-2003, the last two years as
Imagine if we used an infrastructure plan to multiply chairman.
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