Inside the Infrastructure Revolution: A Roadmap for Rebuilding America

Much of America’s civil infrastructure is at least fifty years old. Our roads, bridges, water systems, and electrical grids were built for a smaller nation with technologies that are now out of date and materials that reached the limit of their usefulness many years ago. Our international airports are ranked among the worst in the world, our water systems are failing, and our transportation corridors are clogged. The rebuilding of America must begin! In a fiscally conservative environment, how will we finance the trillions of dollars of work needed to rebuild America and ensure the country’s global leadership in an evolving global economy? Author Mary Scott Nabers has been in the mainstream of this issue for many years—first as a state official and then, for the past two decades, as a matchmaker between public and private sector entities. The new model for meeting the nation’s need for modern and efficient transportation, water systems, power grids, broadband, schools, and smart city solutions involves collaboration and private sector investment. Instead of taxpayers alone shouldering the financial burden of replacing worn-out bridges, renovating schools, modernizing airports, and upgrading water systems, Nabers describes in detail the development of joint ventures where private sector capital helps finance the projects and accepts project risk and maintenance responsibilities under long-term contracts. The result is that government, representing taxpayers, retains ownership, control, and oversight over new, upgraded, or expanded public assets.