At a time when many state transportation officials are clamoring for more financial help from Washington, an outline of the president’s infrastructure plan depends heavily on an influx of state and private funds.
The Trump administration has hinted for months that its long-awaited infrastructure plan would lean heavily on new spending by states, local governments and the private sector. On Monday, a leaked outline of that plan seems to confirm that the federal government would take a back seat in funding its own infrastructure initiative.
But the outline also proposes a number of controversial changes, such as allowing states to toll existing highways, subsidizing improvements for passenger rail and encouraging states to “commercialize” interstate rest areas.
The outline does not indicate how much money the Trump administration will seek toward its infrastructure plan — prior reports suggest Trump wants $200 billion in new federal spending to attract another $800 billion of outside investments — but it does lay out how the administration would like to divide any new money that does materialize.
GOVERNING.COM
BY DANIEL C. VOCK | JANUARY 22, 2018