Read the original article by Timothy W. Little on S&P Global
S&P Global Ratings’ analysis of the decade following the Great Recession shows a decline in state capital spending and infrastructure investment. This new paradigm was due to a number of factors, but mostly reflects a challenging operating environment and growing fixed-cost obligations, like pensions and other benefit costs through the lower-for-longer recovery period. Over the past decade, S&P Global Ratings estimates the U.S. would have spent approximately $1.5 trillion more in state and local government infrastructure investments had it continued on its pre-Great Recession path. During this period, both state debt and the portion of budgets devoted to capital expenditures declined. As the country emerges from the COVID-19-induced recession, U.S. state infrastructure spending is likely to be disrupted further. One consequence of continuing travel restrictions instituted to control the spread of the virus is that billions of dollars in transportation-related revenues, which typically fund long-term capital plans, are at risk of falling short of pre-pandemic levels, possibly for several years….