President Donald J. Trump has asked congress to pass a $1 trillion dollar spending package to rebuild the country’s infrastructure. Specifically, he called for the repair and reconstruction of the nation’s crumbling bridges and highways.
On Monday, Trump spoke at meeting with the National Governors Association, explaining that a “friend in the trucking business” advised him of the poor conditions of highways across the country.
“I have a friend who is in the trucking business. He said, my trucks are destroyed going from New York to Los Angeles. They’re destroyed. He said, I’m not going to get the good trucks. He always prided himself on buying the best equipment. He said, the roads are so bad that, by the time we make the journey from New York to Los Angeles or back, he said the equipment is just beat to hell. I said, when has it been like that before? He said, it’s never — he’s been in the business for 40 years — he said it’s never been like that. Forty years — never been like that. So we’re going to take care of that.”
Two weeks earlier, a study by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) echoed similar claims, when it reported that 55,710 bridges in the country are “structurally deficient.” The deficient bridges include the Throgs Neck Bridge in New York and Memorial Bridge in Washington D.C. In total, the listed bridges are crossed by vehicles more than 185 million times per day.
On Tuesday, Trump continued his pitch in front of Congress, citing Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway Act of 1956 as the “last truly great infrastructure program.”
“The time has come for a new program of national rebuilding,” Trump said. “Crumbling infrastructure will be replaced with new roads, bridges, tunnels, airports and railways, gleaming across our very, very beautiful land.”
Although a $1 trillion dollar spending package won’t see the day of light without significant opposition, Trump explained that it’s only a fraction of what’s been spent to rebuilt war-torn countries in the Middle East.
“America has spent $6 trillion in the Middle East. With this $6 trillion, we could have rebuilt our country twice, and maybe even three times.”
To alleviate some of the upfront costs to taxpayers, Trump’s administration would call for private investors to fund part of the $1 trillion infrastructure project. These private companies will then be able to charge tolls and other fees to turn a profit and generate a return on investment.
Trump’s final closing pitch was simple — we have no other choice.
“It’s not like, oh gee, let’s hold it off. Our highways, our bridges are unsafe,” the President said. “It’s not like we have a choice.”