Improving the nation's crumbling bridges, roads and sewage systems is a $1.6 trillion problem that governors intend to address in the next year.
“It's not the sexiest of issues, but in many ways, it's as important as anything we do,” Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) said July 14, as he accepted the chairmanship of the National Governors Association and formally kicked off his infrastructure initiative.
Rendell said million-dollar projects like the infamous “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska make voters skeptical that the government is up to the task. “The view is that infrastructure is just a pork-barrel process … We need to bring back public confidence.”
Some 70 current and former governors attended NGA's centennial that celebrated governors' role in crafting important national policies and programs in the last 100 years, such as welfare reform and the interstate highway system.
Read the full report Governors Turn to Fixing Infrastructure on Stateline.org's Web site.