How large is the real deficit in economic infrastructure of the United States?
Very large, requiring hundreds of billions of dollars of public investments annually for an economic recovery based on raising the real productivity of our workforce and our population. The American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) estimate of $1.7 trillion in immediate infrastructure investments needed, is well known, but has not been acted upon. Clean water infrastructure is the largest need, at $450 billion. The entire nation has only 100 miles of electrified railroad left; its power grid is falling below minimum reliable requirements; its community hospitals can’t meet public health needs. But this ASCE estimate, itself, is a minimum. It is not the real infrastructure deficit, because in many areas it calls, not for building a new national infrastructure, but for repairing the old. ASCE’s estimated need for waterway and port navigation infrastructure especially, lock-and-dam systems on the nation’s rivers is $125 billion, and does involve a lot of new infrastructure projects, bec
