Federal picture is cloudy, but voters were clear in support of local infrastructure

Was 2024 a wave election at the national level? That debate is going strong.

But if you look at local elections, infrastructure’s popularity was undeniable. Of 79 ballot measures that ASCE was tracking that would benefit infrastructure, 65 passed, an 82% success rate.

Further reading:

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• Exercise care in making political contributions
• Storms’ rising frequency, intensity challenge flood insurance program

One reason such measures tend to do so well is the tangible impact to voters, says Monica Sartain, P.E., M.ASCE, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, an area where voters passed a transit measure in November.

“It’s a direct benefit, literally funding these transportation projects,” she said. “That’s where the money is going. When people know where their money is going, they’re more apt to be open to funding it.”

That is not necessarily the case on a national level, and executive orders from President Donald Trump have created uncertainty for those who count on federal dollars to build, maintain, and improve infrastructure.

One order temporarily halted disbursement of remaining funds appropriated under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act; another issued a temporary freeze on all federal assistance programs. Combined, the moves have left unclear the future of spending under both laws and have called into question continued reliable and sustainable infrastructure investment from the federal government.

But Michael Bloom, P.E., AICP, ENV SP, M.ASCE, a sustainability practice manager at 5engineering LLC in Houston, agreed with Sartain’s assessment regarding local support for infrastructure. His region was among the infrastructure winners on Election Day 2024.

Voters there approved a ballot measure that increased by 58% the property tax paid to the Harris County (Texas) Flood Control District, which is headquartered in Houston. The increased tax rate is expected to add more than $119 million in annual revenue for maintenance activities, such as cutting trees, mowing grass, fixing cracks in concrete, and removing sediment from existing channels.

Bloom says voters are more apt to pass local infrastructure measures because those measures fund projects that are “more visible, more tangible, and more understandable” to the typical voter.

And the maintenance work funded by the measure will be highly visible in Harris County, where the flood control district maintains more than 2,500 miles of channels and 58,800 acres of land.

Winning at the ballot box

Persuading the public to pass such measures is not always easy. Bloom said the push in his community included advertising and social media campaigns. To help advocate for the measure, Bloom, in a letter to the editor of the Houston Chronicle, compared a vote for the ballot measure to following the recommended maintenance schedule for a car to maximize its life.

“Debris and sediment must be removed, trees and landscapes pruned and mowed, and broken pipes and concrete panels fixed,” he wrote. “Without maintenance, the risk of flooding increases for everyone.”

The case was clear. Greater Houston is in a low-lying area near the Gulf of Mexico; is prone to thunderstorms, tropical depressions, and hurricanes; and is the nation’s fifth-most-populated metro area and one of its fastest growing. Flooding is the No. 1 disaster threat to the region, and this was on full display when Hurricane Harvey struck in 2017.

Houston was founded in the 1830s, and extensive development and infrastructure was constructed over time.  Early construction followed less protective siting and flood mitigation standards, leading to a built environment vulnerable to existing flood risks.

“The newer (construction) is a lot more resilient because they follow newer, more modern, siting and flood mitigation requirements,” Bloom said. “You have this dichotomy. There are a lot of older structures with higher vulnerabilities and a lot of newer structures with lower vulnerabilities. The newer the better.”

Each area of the country has its own infrastructure issues.

In Davidson County, Tennessee, whose county seat is Nashville, transit is near the top of the list. Like Houston, the region is rapidly growing. It also sees a high volume of goods being moved by semitrucks on the interstates, is a major tourist destination, and is a hub for corporate offices, particularly health care. And, as is typical of many Southern regions, there is little in the way of infrastructure for transit.

Compounding the issue: The Cumberland River runs through the city, meaning lots of bridges that require maintenance and improvements to keep them operating safely and properly. There is a bus system, but, like many around the country, it suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to fully recover. There is a light rail line, but it isn’t convenient for large swaths of the region’s population.

Davidson County residents acted at the ballot box, passing a half-cent sales tax that will help fund a 15-year, $3.1 billion package to improve sidewalks, bicycle lanes, traffic signals, and bus service.

Making the case, then waiting

While the vote for the Texas flood district was close (receiving just over 51% support), the Tennessee transit vote was easily approved, being backed by nearly two-thirds of voters. Bloom and Sartain were among hundreds of infrastructure advocates across the country waiting and hoping on Election Day.

The Harris County vote “was a very close race,” Bloom said. “I didn’t know whether it would pass or not. The Houston-Harris County region is generally supportive of infrastructure initiatives, so there were tail winds. I was a little bit optimistic from that perspective.”

When she heard of the Davidson County measure’s passage, Sartain said she was “pleasantly surprised, as somebody who’s been driving these roads for almost two decades. Knowing that things will be improving is exciting.”

Backers of the Davidson County effort held public meetings and made brochures, among other strategies to persuade voters. Sartain has chaired all three ASCE state infrastructure report cards in Tennessee, the latest one coming in 2022. She credits the report card with making an impact, as it contained a transit section that enumerated many of the problems and issued the sector a grade of D+.

One aspect of the measure that Sartain particularly likes is the use of smart signals to reduce congestion in the area, particularly in downtown Nashville, where they “would really be game changing for the amount of time people spend just sitting and waiting for the light to change.”

She also describes a region lacking sidewalks and bus shelters in many areas. This is discouraging for those who might be considering using buses, as the walk to a stop might be unsafe and waiting for a bus in an open area while dealing with adverse climate conditions and traffic whizzing nearby is less than optimal. “It can really be an unsafe situation,” Sartain said.

The increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events make it crucial to keep the focus on bolstering and maintaining infrastructure. If voters keep passing measures with the same frequency of 2024, civil engineers can feel confident their work to support infrastructure safety and improvement can continue.

Harris and Davidson counties are emblematic of the urgent infrastructure needs across the country.

“We know the weather is changing, so being able to adapt to that is important,” Sartain said. “These improvements really do help the people taking the transit options, and each person taking a transit option is off the road, which helps with congestion.”

“The increased frequency (of extreme weather events) makes people more aware of the risk and the hazard,” Bloom said. “The events happen more often, so people are more willing to support risk reduction investments.”

Also of note …

• The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit held a hearing on Jan. 22 to discuss highway priorities for the next surface transportation reauthorization. Themes that emerged included the need for predictability when planning transportation projects, the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund, and permitting reform.
• The Senate confirmed the appointment of former U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., as secretary of transportation. He was sworn in on Jan. 28.
• The Federal Highway Administration on Jan. 14 published a final rule terminating the agency’s waiver that allows manufactured products used in federally aided highway projects to not comply with Buy America requirements.