Study Calls for More Infrastructure Spending

The United States needs to spend $170 billion more each year on transportation infrastructure to avoid a crisis in the next decade, according to a new study, Bloomberg reported.

That money could come from higher fuel taxes, private sector investment, tolls and congestion pricing, the Urban Land Institute said in a report, Bloomberg said.

The group cited last year’s interstate highway bridge collapse in Minnesota and the 2005 infrastructure failures after Hurricane Katrina of examples of why the country needs to boost spending now, Bloomberg reported.

The comments reflect growing concern over the nation's aging road and rail network, even as a bill signed into law in 2005 allocated $286.5 billion for spending on highways and transit over six years, Bloomberg said.

An aide to House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar said last month the U.S. should budget $500 billion in multiyear investment for infrastructure, Bloomberg reported.