President Biden’s massive infrastructure proposal has excited transportation executives who say it is unprecedented and will have a broad, lasting impact on the country.
The outline calls for $621 billion to upgrade and modernize everything from roads to bridges, railways, buses, trains and airports. Electric vehicles are a major part of the proposal, with investments in charging infrastructure, the battery supply chain, manufacturing, tax incentives and job creation. An all-encompassing infrastructure push is a rarity, according to transportation experts. Biden’s plan will need to receive congressional approval, so details are likely to change. But transportation leaders called the proposal a bold, necessary step to upgrade US transportation. « President Biden’s plan is the most visionary proposal for the nation’s transportation network since the dawn of the Interstate Highway System, » Janette Sadik-Khan, chair of the National Association of City Transportation Officials, said in a statement. The American Society of Civil Engineers has done report cards on US infrastructure since 1998, and the country has never received better than a C-, according to its chair emeritus Greg DiLoreto. He said Biden’s proposal will avert negative economic consequences from a failing infrastructure. « We have a proposal, finally, that may cut into the infrastructure shortfall, » DiLoreto told CNN Business. Paul P. Skoutelas, CEO of the American Public Transportation Association, said that in 40 years in the field, he’s never heard a president talk more directly and forcefully on the importance of transportation investments. « This is transformational for mobility, » Skoutelas said.
