Trump’s team identifies top projects for infrastructure plan: reportTrump’s team identifies top projects for infrastructure plan: report

President Trump’s transition team has compiled a list of 50 potential transportation projects across the country that could be targeted in his promised infrastructure proposal, according to documents obtained by McClatchy’s Kansas City Star and The News Tribune.

Two of the examples floated on the list - the Gateway Program and Brent Spence Bridge - would upgrade critical structures in Kentucky and New York that have long been championed by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Another project would upgrade the nation’s air traffic control system to a satellite-based system - a top priority of House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.).

The document, confirmed by a senior congressional aide to McClatchy, also includes cost and job figures.

However, it's not clear whether the 52-page document is a preliminary draft or a final proposal. The document includes all but two projects that were circulated in a National Governors Association (NGA) spreadsheet, which was meant to serve as a model for states that were submitting projects to Trump's team.

The NGA was asked by the transition team in early December to start collecting “shovel-ready” project requests from states in an effort to create a list that Trump's team could vet. Over 300 projects had been submitted as of Monday, with more expected in the coming weeks. Projects will ultimately be selected by the White house through a more formal process, the NGA emphasized.

“If [Trump] moves fast on infrastructure, we want to get some ideas of what are good projects that states could move quickly on,” Scott Pattison, executive director of the NGA, told The Hill earlier this week. “We want to ensure we are a partner with the federal government.”

Pattison also emphasized that they didn’t want certain projects to “leap frog” others that may be a higher priority in a state.

The documents obtained by McClatchy, which include a portfolio of projects totaling $137.5 billion, offer a picture of the types of infrastructure investments that Trump could make, but still leaves out key details such as how the plan would be paid for.

Trump has repeatedly vowed to fix the nation’s crumbling roads, bridges and airports, but has yet to sketch out a plan in any detail. He floated a proposal on the campaign trail that would offer $137 billion in federal tax credits to private investors that back transportation projects.

The list from Trump’s transition team, according to the document, envisions half of the funding coming from the private sector, and would require projects to be considered a national security issue or public emergency, be “shovel-ready” and be a direct job-creator in order to qualify.

Other projects reportedly being considered by Trump’s team include building a high-speed railway from Dallas to Houston; constructing a new terminal at the Kansas City airport; repairing a highway in North Carolina; erecting a wind farm in Wyoming; dredging a port in Louisiana; and expanding New York City’s subway.

Source: The Hill