We built the interstate highway system with great fanfare and effort, and it made an enormous contribution to the nation. But we waited about 20 years to think seriously about how to maintain the system. As stressed in the report, we need to build maintenance into thinking about infrastructure from the beginning. Next come recommendations simplifying regulations to make it easier to proceed with an infrastructure project. The Clinton administration is working on improving the regulatory process.
Regulation is always a balancing act.
We need to protect the health and safety of the American people and we need to protect the environment. However, over the years, we have done this in ways that are excessively costly, complicated, time intensive, and paper intensive. We need to rethink this process, especially with respect to environmental protection. We have to integrate consideration of the environment into everything we do, from the beginning. The report urges that we give serious consideration to new ways of financing infrastructure.