Sustaining Transportation Infrastructure When the Free Money Runs Out

My July Public Works Financing column on preparing transportation infrastructure for federal insolvency led to my chairing a panel at the early-December Government P3 conference in Washington, DC. ARTBA government affairs chief Dean Franks, Fitch Ratings’ Scott Monroe, and I had a lively discussion plus Q&A, with good attendance despite it being the last session on a Friday afternoon.

My focus in the July 2024 column was on the impending fiscal insolvency of Medicare and Social Security around 2035. But since then, the federal budget outlook has become even more alarming. January’s Congressional Budget Office forecast expects annual federal deficits over the next 10 years that total $21.1 trillion, adding that sum to the current record-high national debt of $36 trillion, a 71% increase in 10 years.