Infrastructure Requires Money. More Toll Roads Are the Way.
States like Florida and Texas can’t wait for funding from legislation to expand traffic capacity, and private capital is eager to invest.
The fairest way to obtain money for many infrastructure projects is to get it directly from the users.
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
Physical infrastructure — highways, bridges, ports, internet servers, potable water — provides the backbone of an economy, even in an increasingly digital and virtual world. Most people recognize that it makes the nation more competitive and efficient and support investment in these projects. That backing begins to fade when it comes down to who’s going to pay for it and in whose backyard it will end up.
President Joe Biden’s administration has supercharged the push to improve and expand US infrastructure with the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and to a lesser extent the green-economy bill and the Chips and Science Act.