With a Trump administration in the White House now, advocacy groups are keeping a close watch on the Republicans' agenda to see how they move forward on infrastructure spending.



"While Congress and states have made some effort to improve infrastructure, it's not enough," Greg DiLoreto, a past ASCE president, said in a statement. DiLoreto said a bill is "overdue" and is costing each American roughly $3,400 per year in disposal income.

In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, Trump last week proposed $1 trillion in infrastructure investment, "financed through both public and private capital."



That investment, he said, would create "millions of new jobs."



Though infrastructure investment was a major theme of his campaign, the issue has largely taken the back seat to Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and pass tax reform.

On Wednesday, though, Trump made strides toward announcing a more formal infrastructure plan, meeting with leading members of the private sector, such as SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk and Vornado Realty Trust Chief Executive Steve Roth, asking for their perspectives.



Despite Trump's vocal support for ambitious investment, the White House has yet to release substantive details.

Trump has also suggested that private investors play a role in rebuilding infrastructure. But critics of that approach say the number of potentially profitable projects is limited.



"[Private investment] would not deliver many of the most important needed projects for roads and bridges, public transit, schools and public housing," the Center on Budget Policies and Priorities wrote in a report. "Rather than public investment … the Trump plan relies entirely on private projects through which investors would own the projects, get huge federal tax credits equal to a stunning 82 percent of their equity investment, and make profits from the tolls or fees they would charge to consumers."

