Spending on physical infrastructure: is it enough?

This chapter provides an overview of investing in municipal physical infrastructure in the United States. It first examines the infrastructure condition ratio for the 25 most populous cities in the U.S. The declining trends in recent years suggest that the infrastructure assets have been depreciating faster than resources invested in new capital additions and improvements. A further analysis of local capital spending reveals that major cities had been grappling with fiscal strain in investing in capital and infrastructure projects in the aftermath of the Great Recession, and such a downward trend will likely continue due to the budgetary impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. After a brief discussion about several major barriers to sufficient municipal spending on infrastructure, it provides some insights on how to address infrastructure investment shortfalls.