Yes, the claims of an “infrastructure crisis” by President Obama, manyliberals and the American Society of Civil Engineers — not exactly a disinterested party — are exaggerated. Yes, high-speed rail connectingTampa and Orlando shouldn’t be at the top of the priority list. Yes, across many dimensions, the state of our infrastructure has been improving over the past several years. And yes, existing laws and regulations turn infrastructure projects into boondoggles that take an order of magnitude longer to complete than necessary and cost more than they should. So conservatives are rightly skeptical of infrastructure projects.
But conservatives should put that skepticism aside and proceed — as always, with apprehension and great prudence — with a program of infrastructure investment.
We shouldn’t follow the left’s approach to infrastructure stimulus, calculating the number of jobs we’d like to create, using that to estimate the amount of government spending we need (“we need to spend at least $1 trillion”), and then finding things to spend the money on (“now, how can we spend $1T as quickly as possible?”). Throw in politics, and that is a proven recipe for poor outcomes — the 2009 “stimulus” package was very poorly designed and properly gave infrastructure a sour taste.
Instead, a conservative approach to infrastructure would begin with a question: What are some projects that we actually need to fund? We all know by now that “shovel ready” projects are rare. So we should take some time to actually figure out which projects offer the highest value to society. We should put in place a multi-year program of infrastructure investment, not sugar-economics Keynesian stimulus.
Who should pick the projects? Primarily states and localities, where most of the responsibility and relevant knowledge lies. They should be free to figure out how to fund their share of the costs, as well. (And government at all levels should couple the projects with regulatory reforms to ensure they are completed on a private-sector timeline and with minimal expense.)