White House Statement on Infrastructure Plan | Eastern NC Now

Press Release:

    AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS HELP: American infrastructure has fallen behind due to years of inaction and a broken permitting system.

• The United States ranks tenth in the world in terms of quality of overall infrastructure, according to the World Economic Forum.
• One out of every five miles of U.S. highway pavement is in poor condition.
• Americans spent an estimated 6.9 billion hours delayed in traffic in 2014, or 42 hours per driver.
• One third of America's bridges are 50 years or older.
• There are an estimated 240,000 water main breaks every year in the U.S.
• Red tape has held back American infrastructure investment.
• The median time to complete an environmental review process of complex highway projects is at least 7 years, according to a 2014 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

    REBUILDING AMERICA: President Donald J. Trump's plan will renew our country's once-great infrastructure and help build a more prosperous future for all Americans.

• President Trump's proposal will generate at least $1.5 trillion in infrastructure investment over the next decade.
• This investment in American infrastructure will raise wages and improve quality of life for the American people.


• President Trump is putting forward a long-term solution that builds off of strong partnerships between Federal, state, tribal, and local authorities.
• Half of the new infrastructure funds would go towards incentivizing new state and local investments in infrastructure.
• President Trump's plan will empower state and local authorities to prioritize infrastructure projects based on their community's needs.


• This plan will eliminate unnecessary redundancies and inefficiencies in the regulatory and permitting process that are holding back American infrastructure development.
• The President's plan will address the infrastructure needs of rural America.
• A quarter of the Federal funds will be dedicated to addressing rural infrastructure needs prioritized by state and local leaders.
• These funds will go towards rebuilding roads, providing clean water to rural families and businesses, expanding broadband access, and supplying affordable, reliable power.


• President Trump's proposal will encourage the development of new, transformative infrastructure projects.

    BUILDING OFF OF YEAR ONE: President Trump will continue to build off of the action his Administration took in its first year to improve American infrastructure.

• On August 15, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order to streamline the environmental review and permitting process for major infrastructure projects.
• The Executive Order established a two-year goal for the environmental review process.


• In his first year in office, President Trump approved key infrastructure projects such as the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.
• President Trump's Rural Prosperity Task Force released a report detailing recommendations as to how the Administration can promote a more prosperous future for rural America.
• On January 8, 2018, President Trump signed an Executive Order on Streamlining and Expediting Requests to Locate Broadband Facilities in Rural America.
• President Trump's Department of Agriculture (USDA) has already begun investing in infrastructure projects in rural America.
• On January 19, 2018, the USDA announced it is awarding 72 grants totaling $23.6 million for equipment that uses broadband internet to increase access to educational and health services for rural Americans.
• President Trump's Department of Agriculture has announced that it will invest more than $200 million to help improve broadband access in rural areas.
• In FY 2017, the USDA invested more than $40 million in infrastructure improvement projects in rural communities.

    Contact: White House • whitehouse.gov/the-press-office