Road To Growth
September 17, 2015
In 2015, Business Roundtable released Road to Growth: The Case for Investing in America's Transportation Infrastructure. The report highlighted the challenges of maintaining a complex and expansive system like America's transportation infrastructure.
Today we recognize the crucial opportunity for policymakers to prioritize and reinvest inthe critical drivers of future economic growth and competitiveness. The members of Business Roundtable believe that strategic public-sector leadership is indispensable to reversing the underperformance and deterioration of the nation’s transportation infrastructure, which provides a critical foundation for U.S. economic growth and sustained international competitiveness.
This report outlines the economic cost of neglecting America’s transportation infrastructure and the positive effects of reinvesting in it for the 21st Century. This Business Roundtable analysis contrasts America’s current investment with 20th Century levels and guides policymakers forward in efforts to rebuild this vital economic foundation.
360 Video: Explore Infrastructure in Action
Take a look at the Montgomery Locks and Dam, located on the Ohio River about 30 miles downstream of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This facility is just one section of the 25,000 miles of waterways and 239 locks that make up America’s inland waterway system.
Our nation’s inland waterway system is a critical transportation network that moves more than 575 million tons of cargo through the nation’s heartland and to coastal ports to be exported around the world.
Among the key findings included in the report:
- America Is No. 16: The United States’ overall infrastructure quality ranks 16th, behind such countries as Germany, France and Japan.
- Highways and Bridges: Urban highway congestion cost the economy more than $120 billion in 2011, and nearly one in four bridges in the national highway system is structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
- Waterways and Ports: Lock delays, port congestion and lack of facilities for larger ships added $33 billion to the cost of U.S. products in 2010.
- As much as $3 in economic activity is created by every $1 invested in infrastructure.
- Up to $320 billion in economic output would be generated in 2020 if U.S. infrastructure investment were boosted by 1 percent of GDP per year.
“The U.S. economy absolutely relies on a strong national transportation infrastructure, but much of our infrastructure is aging, outdated and unreliable. This report gives all the reasons necessary to take action, as soon as possible, to rebuild our infrastructure assets so we can both support and grow the U.S. economy.”
Doug Oberhelman, Former Chairman and CEO of Caterpillar Inc.
