The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated a wide range of employment sectors as well as municipal and state budgets. When compared to the previous year, Departments of Transportation  (DOTs) in US states saw revenues plummet by 14% through June 2020, and the National League of Cities found 65% of cities are being forced to delay or completely cancel American infrastructure projects and capital expenditures. This is disastrous for both the safety of our nation’s critical infrastructure and workers who rely on these projects to support their families.

Data compiled by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association shows at least $9 billion of construction work on transportation projects have already been shelved. In the coming months, we have a unique opportunity to reinvest in American infrastructure projects and jumpstart the US economy. 

There are hundreds of worthy projects in the construction pipeline across the country. While there’s no way to develop an exhaustive list, below is a snapshot of construction-ready infrastructure projects covering the categories of dams, inland waterways, clean and drinking water, and multimodal freight. 

Should Congress pass a comprehensive infrastructure investment package, projects like these can break ground in the near term and put people back to work. Our future economic prosperity relies on modern infrastructure, and our immediate recovery calls for large-scale reemployment. Now is the time to reinvest in the backbone of America – our infrastructure.

1Drinking Water and Clean Water project totals are extrapolated from the the Water Environment Federation as well as the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators’ 2020 Save, Accelerate, Fill & Expedite (S.A.F.E.) Water Infrastructure Action Plan, which utilizes the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) to determine estimated costs for each state to invest in water infrastructure. The SRF Project Pipeline includes shovel-ready project estimates, but also includes some that have been conceptualized and still must undergo further planning.

2Dams totals were provided by the Association of State Dam Safety and show estimated costs of projects within states who have applied for the High Hazard Potential Dam Rehabilitation Program. The overall costs of these projects reflect the figures shown for dams in this list.

3Additional projects were compiled by members of the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors. They include grade separations, bridge rehabilitation and replacement, modernization of marine terminals, and more.

4Inland Waterway projects were compiled by the Waterways Council, Inc and include lock and dam modernizations to add capacity in chambers and rehabilitation of aging components of the inland waterway assets.