Infrastructure
It’s an ongoing, multitrillion-dollar challenge to build new and maintain existing infrastructure. This section will explore forward-looking approaches to funding, building and maintaining roads, highways, rail and broadband, as well as water and other utilities.
They’re the foundation of our evolving economy, defining the next generation of growth. Their resource use is misunderstood. And they’re a boon for rural communities.
Nitrate pollution is likely to force more water-use restrictions. Iowa’s problems are uniquely severe: It has plenty of water, but bans on car washing and lawn watering underscore the state’s long struggle with high nitrate levels.
Overall state aid to colleges and universities was flat this year but lawmakers approved $610 million in construction, with promises of more for future phases of new projects.
On April 15, the Trump administration announced the transfer of this swath of land from the Bureau of Land Management to the military. That has effectively made the 180-mile border New Mexico shares with Mexico into an extended military base tied to Fort Huachuca in Arizona.
President Donald Trump has terminated funding for programs ranging from broadband access to digital literacy. Public officials need to step up to help Americans still trapped on the wrong side of the digital divide.
We don't just need to fix America's streets and crosswalks and storm drains. We need to think about what — and who — they're for, and bring ethics into the equation.
With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act set to expire in the coming year, the National League of Cities is asking local leaders to tell Congress its priorities for the next transportation bill.
Gov. Ron DeSantis described the change as a blow for freedom of choice, but dental and health experts warn that the ban will lead to bad outcomes.
Data centers are the driver of near-term growth in electricity use. Electric vehicles will drive future growth.
The administration has a NIMBY problem, facing local opposition to the placement of immigrant detention centers.
Business owners complained it was impossible to comply with energy reduction targets. Denver has modified its rules and Colorado lawmakers may follow suit statewide
There are a number of steps that state and local leaders could take to narrow the funding gap by tens of billions, making the most of the money that is available to keep the faucets flowing.
Only 22 states meet recommended security standards. But some states have come up with new approaches on their own.
Experts argue about whether it’s mostly poor road design or dangerous drivers. But there’s no question that it’s gotten a lot riskier to travel on foot.
For now, AI is helping plant operators scan through thousands of pages of compliance documents. Its uses could expand.
Legal challenges, economic factors and Trump administration policies are all creating problems for commercial wind farms.
Outdated transmission infrastructure can’t deliver the power that’s being generated. State policymakers can make it easier to build new lines and make older ones much more efficient.
A new data dashboard from the Urban Institute fleshes out how the funding is being allocated by category and across states, counties and congressional districts.
The state faces a severe shortfall, but a proposed package would raise or shift $1 billion in taxes to secure funding for various projects.
Voters approved $9 billion in school construction bonds last fall. The district must rebuild schools destroyed or damaged by smoke or fire and intends to make them more resilient.
Sponsored
A comprehensive approach to on-site solar energy can catalyze local government transformation.
Voters approved $10 billion in school construction bonds last November. Facing big maintenance backlogs, districts around the state are worried the money could be quickly depleted by the need to rebuild Los Angeles schools after the fires.
Iowa leads the nation in the percentage of its electricity it generates from wind and solar, showing that the transition doesn’t have to be expensive or scary or even constrained by politics.
Charging motorists to drive in a large swath of Manhattan has been decades in the making, and the idea has had some success elsewhere in the world.
A collaboration between a foundation and private-sector partners to build a successful streetcar system in Detroit demonstrates the potential for community growth and prosperity.
The governor’s office has proposed creating a Texas Nuclear Power Fund to incentivize nuclear growth as well as passing pro-nuclear legislation, creating a university research network and bolstering the nuclear supply chain.
The increase of energy demand across the country is growing to rates that haven’t been seen since the end of World War II.
In Maryland and several other states, many of the reductions have come thanks to the retirement of coal-fired power plants.
The Mississippi River Delta region is ripe for on-farm solar production, but must overcome hurdles.
Hurricane Helene put rural Western North Carolina’s home-based child-care providers under an existential threat. The natural disaster exacerbated problems caused by years of insufficient funding and lack of support, causing many child-care providers to fear they won’t be able to start over.
The new boundary officially returns the pump station on one of the nation’s largest manmade lakes fully back into the Lone Star State.
