On Monday, President Trump officially announced his proposal to Congress for an infrastructure plan. As a civil engineer, I was thrilled to hear the news, but I was even happier when I learned the details of the plan. But before I get into the details, I think it’s important to preface why this plan is so important. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the current rating of U.S. infrastructure is a D+. The grade is decided by gauging infrastructure in certain areas including capacity, condition, funding, future need, operation and maintenance, public safety, resilience, and innovation. As a whole, the United States does not score well. The system chooses grades from A to F, with A being “exceptional, fit for the future” and F being “Failing/Critical.” Our grade of a D+ puts us in between poor and mediocre. For more detail on this, you can visit the ASCE website, and if you really want to make a difference switch your major to civil engineering!
As a student of civil engineering, I can easily say that this plan is a great start. And I’m not the only one who feels that way. ASCE President Kristina Swallow, Professional Engineer (P.E.), shared the same sentiments in a statement that she put out regarding Trump’s plan. Civil engineers are finally beginning to see the potential that the government has to actually do something positive. However, she also highlighted weaknesses, like the need to fully fund the Highway Trust Fund. Without enough funding to maintain our infrastructure, even a major overhaul of all infrastructure would not matter because it would all fall into disrepair in a very short period of time.
Things are not looking too good and something needs to be done from a government standpoint in order to fix all of the government-owned and operated infrastructure. Right now, the Libertarian in me is screaming that we should get the government completely out of infrastructure, but the more liberal side of me is saying that could get really messy really fast before anything gets better. Construction is a long and messy process that may actually hurt the U.S. infrastructure grade because of traffic congestion and public safety.
Now to the actual 55-page plan put out by the White House. According to TheHill.com, “The plan is structured around four main goals: generating $1.5 trillion for an infrastructure proposal, streamlining the permitting process down to two years, investing in rural infrastructure projects and advancing workforce training.” This is the exact framework that we need as a nation to get things moving. In Trump’s plan, the federal government is only providing $200 billion of the $1.5 trillion for the project. The rest of the money is set to come from the states as well as private-public partnerships. This is excellent from a conservative perspective because it proves that government can be a limited part of this operation and that the private sector really has a huge stake in improving our infrastructure. According to the ASCE, “$3,400 a year [is lost] in disposable income.” This means that by upgrading our infrastructure, individuals could save thousands of dollars per year. Honestly, who doesn’t want more money in their pocket?
In addition to the funding, there is also a proposal to streamline the approval process by condensing the government agencies that approve all permits. The current process is sequential and redundant, so it takes years longer than is necessary to complete simple tasks. Although this may mean that engineers such as myself will have to put more time into our work as more paperwork comes in and out at faster rates, it will be well worth it.
To be honest, I don’t entirely understand the President’s focus on rural infrastructure. I think that this proposal comes with the chance to please Trump’s rural base, but at the same time, there are many rural communities that do not obtain the resources they need. All around the U.S., there are small towns that need to modernize their water systems, waste removal systems, and telecommunication systems. Many towns lack the ability to properly serve people with such basics that we take for granted in densely-populated areas like Hoboken.
The final point of Trump’s plan addresses one of the biggest problems that this country faces: vocational workforce training. Unfortunately, vocations like plumbing, heating and air conditioning repair, electrical contractors, and skilled labor have almost become dirty words. As the son of a blue-collar worker, this is really sad to hear. If I didn’t have such a strong interest in pursuing civil engineering, there’s a good chance I would have ended up in a blue-collar field, considering they go through fewer years of schooling and can easily out-earn people in white-collar jobs. Why the public has decided that children should no longer be encouraged to go into these fields and instead be pushed into colleges where they waste four years and get a worthless liberal arts degree is beyond me.
There are definitely areas for improvement in this plan, but it is the best outline for legislation that has ever come forward. Hopefully, Congress will choose to take this issue up as soon as the immigration debate is over and reforms can get underway.
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