NEW REPORT: How to Fix America’s Crumbling Infrastructure

2 min read

In its 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave America’s infrastructure an overall grade of D+, and it estimated it would cost $4.59 trillion over a 10-year period to rectify this important problem.

Regardless of whether U.S. infrastructure is truly ‘crumbling,’ policymakers and analysts generally agree that much work and many reforms are needed to repair, improve, and enhance infrastructure in America. But how, exactly, should these goals be achieved?

In a new Heartland Institute Policy Brief, titled “How to Fix America’s Crumbling Infrastructure: Lessons from Australia,” Darren Brady Nelson looks at America’s infrastructure needs and what can be done. He points to the Australian model for infrastructure repairs as an example the United States should follow.

Nelson argues in this Heartland Policy Brief:

There may be disagreements on to what degree, but America is in need of infrastructure repairs.
Most plans to repair America’s infrastructure are a hodgepodge of big government programs that will be inefficient and ineffective.
Policymakers should look at how Australia decentralized its infrastructure management to create a similar system in the United States.
Privatization is the most economically sound system for improving America’s infrastructure without huge costs to taxpayers.

This new Heartland Policy Brief shows that decentralization and privatization is the most effective solution for repairing America’s infrastructure. The enormous costs of government centric plans must be avoided.

Get a PDF copy of the paper: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/publications/PBinfrastructureMay2020.pdf