Bill seeks $1 trillion for transportation

WASHINGTON — For years, transportation experts have called for a massive investment to save a network of roads, bridges and transit systems that have fallen into disrepair. A bill introduced in the Senate on Tuesday would meet that need, providing $1 trillion over the next five years.

Given that elsewhere on Capitol Hill members are scrambling for funds to keep annual federal transportation spending just above about $50 billion, coming up with an additional $148 billion on top of that would seem problematic.

“For too many years, we’ve underfunded our nation’s physical infrastructure. We have to change that, and that’s what the Rebuild America Act is all about. We must modernize our infrastructure and create millions of new jobs that will put people back to work and help the economy,” said Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., the ranking minority member of the Senate Budget Committee, who introduced the $1 trillion bill.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, is a co-sponsor.

“By making smart federal investments in our nation’s infrastructure, we can create jobs and opportunities today while strengthening our economy for tomorrow,” Mikulski said.

The American Society of Civil Engineers has calculated that an additional $1.6 trillion should be spent on infrastructure by 2020. A 2010 report by the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs said that an additional $134 billion to $262 billion must be spent every year through 2035 to rebuild and improve roads, rail systems and air transportation.

Sanders, who did not specify a source of funding, said targeted investments would be made in roads, bridges, transit, rail lines, water systems, ports and inland waterways, national parks, municipal broadband systems, and the electric grid.