What U.S. Transportation Policy Could Look Like Under Trump

Yesterday, I took a look at the overwhelming success of local transit referenda at the ballots on Tuesday night—and how the dramatic change in the executive office could put a damper on them. But the new president-elect, Donald Trump, has described, repeatedly and proudly, how infrastructure spending, especially on roads, bridges, and America’s “third-world” airports, will create jobs and stimulate the economy—a belief reiterated in a speech last month outlining his plan for his first 100 days in office. What do his infrastructure funding plans look like, and how might they pan out? What kinds of projects will get federal support, and who will benefit? These are among the many, many mysteries of our new American order. But buckle up: It looks to be a bumpy ride.

Unless the noted traffic meddler and current New Jersey governor Chris Christie really does become the next Secretary of Transportation, which some have half-jokingly surmised, there’s no reason to expect a Trump administration to increase the gas tax, which has historically been the main source of the trust fund that pays for federal highway subsidies (Christie raised New Jersey’s gas tax just last month). Instead, in the week leading up to election day, Trump’s campaign quietly slid forward an infrastructure finance plan that essentially calls for full-scale privatization. The administration would provide $137 billion in tax credits to private companies interested in building and managing highways, bridges, airports, and water systems. Those companies, his advisors argue in a policy paper, would be thusly incentivized to spend some $167 billion in initial equity, and use that as cushion to reduce their risk as they borrow even more from private investors.