Roads and rail: How much will it cost to fix America?

Marketplace Contributor May 12, 2017
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 A car travels over a section of roadway riddled with potholes in the Brooklyn, New York. Getty Images

Roads and rail: How much will it cost to fix America?

Marketplace Contributor May 12, 2017
 A car travels over a section of roadway riddled with potholes in the Brooklyn, New York. Getty Images
HTML EMBED:
COPY

One trillion dollars. That’s how much President Trump has pledged to invest in America’s infrastructure. That’s everything from roads and rail to schools and broadband access.

Marketplace Weekend is digging into what happens when key parts of America’s infrastructure fall apart. How does it affect our everyday lives? And who benefits when things change?

We’re compiling a list of some of the worst infrastructure problems in the country and we want to hear from you. What are you seeing in your neighborhood?

You can email us — weekend@marketplace.org — or call 800-648-5114.

There’s a lot a stake. Across the U.S. there are more than 500 “shovel-ready” projects in need of funding, which the Trump administration will choose from. 

But not all of that information has been in one place … until now.

APM Reports, American Public Media’s investigative unit, created a database of all these requests. You can check it out below.


Infrastructure projects pitched to the White House

An accounting of more than 500 infrastructure projects from every state and several U.S. territories, totaling more than $500 billion. Trump has indicated that an announcement about specific projects may come soon. The projects were submitted by the National Governor’s Association, states, the North America’s Building Trades Unions consortium, consultants and an adviser to the Trump campaign. The least expensive project is a proposal to make improvements to a short-line railroad in Louisiana. The most expensive is $45 billion gas pipeline in Alaska. APM Reports gathered the information from multiple sources.


*SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY:

Estimates: Cost estimates come from data submitted to the NGA and the Trump administration. Not every project included a cost estimate.

State: Data on infrastructure projects gathered through public records, press releases, and social media accounts. APM Reports received data from 44 states. Four states submitted projects to the NGA but did not provide APM Reports with any information: Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, and Massachusetts. New Jersey may have submitted more projects to the NGA than noted here. State officials there released details on one project to APM Reports but declined to release data on other projects they may have submitted. Georgia and Ohio confirmed to APM Reports that they did not submit lists of projects to the NGA.

NGA: The National Governor’s Association data was compiled by the NGA and supplied to APM Reports by Dan Slane, who advised President Trump on infrastructure matters between Election Day and the inauguration.

Trump adviser: Data compiled by Dan Slane, Trump’s adviser, and was given to the Trump administrations on Inauguration Day.

Unions: Data submitted to the Trump administration by the North America’s Building Trades Unions consortium.

Infrastructure consultants: Data from the CG/LA Infrastructure Inc., a consulting firm, and The Boston Consulting Group.| APM Reports

To hear more about Marketplace Weekend’s infrastructure project, including a trip to the LA Metro’s regional connector, tune in using the audio player above. 

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