Communities with reliable, resilient and equitable public infrastructure—things like roads and transit, water systems and public parks—are communities in which residents thrive. But when public infrastructure isn’t planned or implemented to prioritize the needs of the communities it serves, it can unfairly limit access to health and economic opportunity by physically dividing or segregating neighborhoods, limiting access to jobs and essential services and, in some cases, harming or even destroying entire communities.
Federal, state, local and tribal leaders across the country are currently responsible for administering a hefty portion of the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure investment passed in 2021. With this funding comes a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the future through infrastructure planning decisions. Leaders must seize this opportunity to produce more equitable outcomes, including having those harmed by past decisions at the table and encouraging and considering their opinions equally. Otherwise, these dollars risk doing more harm than good.
The above is an excerpt of a piece originally published in Governing.
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