Nearly a quarter of municipalities surveyed by the National League of Cities took on fewer infrastructure upgrades over the past year, and projects are still in need of funding.
The White House’s multibillion-dollar rescue package to U.S. cities won’t solve their infrastructure challenges, underscoring the case for more support as Congress debates a federal infrastructure plan, according to a report by the National League of Cities.
The lobbying group released its State of the Cities report on Thursday that uses survey data from about 600 communities and mayoral speeches, finding that some city infrastructure upgrades have fallen by the wayside during the pandemic. Funding for those projects ranked as one of the top challenges facing cities and a top mayoral priority for 2021, according to the report.
The findings bolster the case for more federal funding for roads, bridges and other projects, with nearly a quarter of cities experiencing fewer infrastructure upgrades over the last year, according to the group. The path to a bipartisan plan got more complicated this week after talks ended between President Joe Biden and Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito, who couldn’t agree on the scope of spending or how to pay for it.
Bloomberg CityLab
By Amanda Albright
June 10, 2021, 7:00 AM PDT