Infrastructure

How the Infrastructure Proposal Would Fund Roads, Bridges and Public Transit

The proposal puts $150 billion in new funding toward surface transportation and transit, but won’t close the backlog in maintenance and capital costs.

  • By Andrea Noble

Senate Lawmakers Reach Agreement on Infrastructure Package

The proposal has cleared a key procedural vote, which will allow it to advance.

  • By Andrea Noble

The California Dream Is Dying

COMMENTARY | The once-dynamic state is closing the door on economic opportunity.

  • By Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic

Infrastructure Proposal Faces Key Vote Wednesday

Sen. Chuck Schumer scheduled a procedural vote on the bipartisan infrastructure framework even as lawmakers scurry to finish a draft of the legislation.

  • By Andrea Noble

Transportation Agencies Grapple With Lasting Effects of Telework

Many workers are not going back to offices full time and governments need to figure out how to adjust. “When we are not collecting gas taxes and ferry fares, our budget is hurting," one state transportation chief said during a Route Fifty event.

  • By Jean Dimeo
Sponsor Content

New Tools Help State and Local Governments Battle Ransomware, Other Big Disasters

When governments find themselves being ransomed, their choices are typically to pay, which will undercut their ability to deliver key services to their communities due to budget restrictions, or not pay, resulting in the immediate inability to serve their communities and the loss of key data that will inevitably plague them for years afterwards.

  • Presented by Veeam

High-Tide Flood Risk is Accelerating, Putting Coastal Economies at Risk

COMMENTARY | The frequency of high-tide flooding along the U.S. coasts has doubled since 2000, and it’s expected to increase five to 15 times more in the next 30 years.

  • By Renee Collini, The Conversation

The Green New Deal Does Not, Strictly Speaking, Exist

The idea has reshaped global climate policy, but is far less concrete than its supporters have been led to believe.

  • By Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic

For States and Localities, a Sudden Rush of Federal Water and Sewer Funding

Lawmakers in Congress are growing increasingly concerned over the nation’s drinking water, sewer and stormwater systems. That’s translating into millions for major improvements.

  • By Daniel C. Vock

Waste Not? Some States Are Sending Less Food to Landfills

New York is one of eight states that have enacted laws to cut down on food in landfills, where it breaks down into methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and is released into the atmosphere.

  • By Elaine S. Povich, Stateline

Financing Plan for Infrastructure Agreement Called into Question

Finance experts say the plan to pay for the infrastructure proposal, in part by clawing back unspent Covid relief funds, is unlikely to cover the full cost.

  • By Andrea Noble

In Pennsylvania, Agroforestry Holds a Key to Cleaning up Waterways and Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake may seem a distant locale to farmers in central Pennsylvania, but in the world of watersheds, they are very much connected.

  • By Sarah Derouin , Mongabay

For-profit Water Infrastructure Should Not Get Taxpayer Subsidies

COMMENTARY | Most federal infrastructure proposals allow subsidies to flow to private water corporations. This amounts to a misuse of public funds.

  • By Mary Grant , Mike Keegan and Elizabeth Dietzmann
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Nowhere Is Ready for This Heat

The Pacific Northwest is melting now, but all across America the infrastructure we have was built for the wrong century.

  • By Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic

Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan, Supported by State and Local Governments, Back on Track

President’s Biden walked back comments that he would not sign an infrastructure bill without a second Democrat-backed proposal. That irked Republicans who threatened to derail the agreement.

  • By Andrea Noble

Biden: 'We Have a Deal' on $1.2T Infrastructure Plan

A bipartisan group of senators emerged from a meeting at the White House Thursday to announce they had secured an agreement to invest $1.2 trillion in the nation’s infrastructure over eight years.

  • By Andrea Noble

Bipartisan Group of Senators to Meet with Biden on ‘Breakthrough’ Infrastructure Agreement

Lawmakers announced Wednesday night they had reached an agreement on the framework of an infrastructure plan and will present the proposal to President Biden on Thursday.

  • By Andrea Noble

For Flood-Prone Cities, Seawalls Raise as Many Questions as They Answer

COMMENTARY | Urban leaders and elected officials at all levels of government need to consider carefully before they invest billions of dollars.

  • By Gary Griggs, The Conversation

Lighter Pavement Really Does Cool Cities When It’s Done Right

COMMENTARY| Reflective surfaces have to be used strategically—the wrong placement can actually heat up nearby buildings.

  • By Hessam AzariJafari and Randolph E. Kirchain, The Conversation

Water Bill Assistance Programs Enroll Less Than 25% of Eligible Customers

Analysis of the nation’s largest water utility company programs finds that they have narrow eligibility guidelines, including very low income requirements, that exclude customers.

  • By Sridhar Vedachalam

Segregation Has Grown Worse in Most Big Metros, Analysis Finds

"These findings were as startling as they were disturbing," says one of the study authors.

  • By Bill Lucia

3 Essential Elements Governments Need to Expand Broadband

Dedicated offices, planning and technical assistance and competitive grant programs are key components for effective broadband efforts, says The Pew Charitable Trusts.

  • By Brent Woodie