The course explores the rich history of infrastructure policy in the United States, beginning with the earliest debates over federal (and state) funding in the early 1800s. Although the modes of transportation have changed, many of the arguments over policy remain remarkably familiar. In exploring descriptive case studies, we will also see how pivotal political decisions about infrastructure have had a disproportionately negative impacts on many inner city neighborhoods, underrepresented groups, and lower income communities.
The course grapples with the myriad challenges confronting infrastructure today, among them chronic underfunding of Amtrak, inadequate mass transit in many US cities, the often poor condition of roads, bridges, and highways, and the insufficiency of broadband access for many communities. If Americans uniformly agree on the need for improved infrastructure, why has policy been so difficult to enact? What is the politics behind the policy? What should the focus of policy be in the next century?