The nation’s infrastructure is in desperate need of repair or replacement. The most recent report by the American Society of Civil Engineers concludes that America’s infrastructure deserves an overall grade of “D”.

Their 2005 report card estimates:

* An investment of $1.6 trillion will be needed to make major repairs and upgrades in America’s infrastructure
* Nearly 30 percent of the nation’s nearly 600,000 bridges are rated ‘deficient’ and restricted to vehicles with certain speed and weight allowances
* More than 3,500 dams are rated ‘unsafe’ and have deficiencies that leave them more susceptible to failure
* Aging sewer systems are spilling an estimated 1.26 trillion gallons of untreated sewage every year
* Public transit facilities, including buses, subways and commuter trains are dangerously under-funded

Infrastructure is one of the most important issues facing the next President of the United States, and still the issue has yet to take center stage on the campaign trail. Read below how the presidential candidates stand on issues related to transportation, water and energy.

Funding Infrastructure

2007: National Infrastructure Bank Act

Obama
Obama proposed a national infrastructure reinvestment bank—similar to the one that Senators Chris Dodd and Chuck Hagel co-sponsored in 2007—to expand federal spending on transportation, and invest $ 60 billion over 10 years to promote and help finance large-scale infrastructure projects across the nation. He had this to say back in February in Wisconsin at a GM assembly plant: “This investment will multiply into almost half a trillion dollars of additional infrastructure spending and generate nearly two million new jobs — many of them in the construction industry that’s been hard hit by this housing crisis.”

McCain
There is no record of whether McCain is for or against a national infrastructure bank. McCain has consistently voted against transportation bills and his campaign issue’s page is silent on the issues of infrastructure and transportation.

Transportation

2005: Transportation Equity Act

This law governs U.S. federal transportation spending–more than $286 billion for transportation infrastructure, including appropriations for highways, public transit, safety programs, and other public works. This law will expire in 2009, and it will be up to the next president to come up with a replacement bill.

McCain: voted NAY

McCain has consistently opposed legislative earmarks in the Senate and appropriations that hand federal dollars over to local governments. He had this to say about pork-barrel projects and the Minnesota bridge collapse in August 2007: “Maybe if we had done it right, maybe some of that money would have gone to inspect those bridges and other bridges around the country,” McCain told a group of people in a town-hall meeting in Ankeny, Iowa.
McCain:
* Advocates a national gas tax holiday, as a way of helping consumers. Critics say the plan would limit the already strained federal budget for roadway repair and construction
* Advocates a cap-and-trade system whereby the federal government attaches a cost to the emission of carbon dioxide and allows companies the ability to buy and sell rights to emit
* Supports higher tax incentives for vehicles with lower carbon emissions on newer cars
* Opposes government funding for Amtrak

Obama: voted YEA

Obama supported the bill and had this to say in 2005, “It’s time to put people to work at improving our roads and our bridges and our public transportation so that Illinois can still be the crossroads of a 21st-century America.”
Beyond this bill, Obama supports:
* Amtrak funding: Obama voted for a recent bill that will provide roughly $13 billion for Amtrak and passenger-rail funding over five years, nearly double current spending levels. McCain voted against the measure.
* increased cycling and pedestrian usage on roads and sidewalks
*Jobs Access and Reverse Commute program: provides federal money to help low-income people get to work

Water Infrastructure

key vote: 2007: Water Resources Development Act

A $ 23 billion dollar bill that funded various improvements to rivers and harbors, including levee and flood control projects, habitat restoration, water quality improvement, emergency water supply storage, and habitat restoration.

McCain: DID NOT VOTE

McCain did not take part in the final vote, but he opposed the bill because he said it included “outrageous spending.” Further, he claimed the bill did not prioritize between what he calls “legitimate” national emergencies like Hurricane Katrina and wasteful, local projects. The bill passed Congress, even though it was vetoed by President Bush. While McCain has referenced the devastation of New Orleans in speeches, he has offered no specific plans to help protect cities from future hurricanes.

Obama: DID NOT VOTE

Obama favored the bill even though he was not present for the final vote. Obama’s policy paper on rebuilding the Gulf Coast promises a “levee and pumping system to protect the city against a 100-year storm by 2011.” Along with enhancing the New Orleans levee system, Obama proposes preserving and restoring the region’s wetlands, which act as “natural wave-breakers” for hurricanes.

Electrical Grid and Energy

Both candidates agree on the need for increased production of electricity, and have some policy overlap and agreement on the need for clean coal, but they differ largely on their proposals for boosting generation. Obama emphasizes conservation and renewable energy; McCain stresses offshore drilling and nuclear power.

McCain

* Favors expanded offshore drilling and encourages alternative sources of energy, including natural gas, clean coal and nuclear power.
* McCain’s plan emphasizes building 45 new plants by 2030 with the ultimate goal of creating 100 U.S. based nuclear power plants. McCain also says he supports the Yucca Mountain project to store nuclear waste.

Obama

* Obama’s plan calls for wind, solar and other alternative energy sources to supply 10 percent of the nation’s power by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. Obama proposes investing $150 billion over 10 years, which would in part go to a new digital electricity grid.
* Opposed a gas tax holiday
* Supports a cap-and-trade
* Accepts offshore drilling as part of a more comprehensive energy plan, and supports nuclear power if certain safety conditions are met

For more on the topic of America’s infrastructure: see Blueprint America.

More on the candidates’ views on transportation issues:

Blueprint America post on the candidates’ stances on infrastructure problems.

Read Gridlock Sam’s column “Infrastructure Isn’t Partisan” on thirteen.org.