Now that coffers are brimming again, infrastructure spending is back on the agenda
State and local government investment in roads, bridges, buildings and other infrastructure hasn’t returned to its previous peak, but it is now showing signs—deep into the expansion—of a real recovery.
Since the 2007-09 recession, slow economic growth and rising expenditures on Medicaid and pensions crowded out infrastructure investment. Spending on school buildings, hospitals and public safety languished.
Now, bigger state and local tax collections, propelled in part by an acceleration in sales-tax receipts from consumer spending, is boosting capital projects and driving a municipal borrowing boom.
The Wall Street Journal
By Sarah Chaney and Heather Gillers
Dec. 15, 2018