Study sees big benefits from investing in Delaware’s infrastructure

4 FEBRUARY, 2019 | DELAWARE BUSINESS TIMES

An analysis from the national Business Roundtable reveals that a significant reinvestment in U.S. public infrastructure systems would add $1,000 in disposable income for the average Delaware household every year for 20 years and create 3,000 additional new jobs in Delaware over the next decade.

Prepared by the Interindustry Forecasting Project at the University of Maryland, the economic analysis shows that as a result of increased infrastructure investment over a 20-year period,

Delaware would benefit from:

– $8 billion of additional output from personal and non-tradable services;
– $6 billion of additional output from finance, insurance and real estate; and
– $3 billion of additional output from construction.

The study also shows that, nationally, infrastructure investment would raise wages by $1.34 per hour and, for every dollar invested in infrastructure, economic growth would increase by $3.70 over a 20-year time horizon.

On January 17, Governor John Carney proposed in his State of the State Address to invest $10 million to create a new Transportation Infrastructure Fund that would “help the state to react quickly to important economic development projects.”

The Delaware Business Roundtable believes the national Business Roundtable’s research shows the General Assembly should back the governor’s infrastructure proposal.

“This new study demonstrates the wisdom of Governor Carney’s proposal to beef up infrastructure funding in Delaware,” Delaware Business Roundtable Executive Director Robert Perkins said. “A significant investment in our infrastructure will have real and lasting benefits for Delaware’s taxpayers.”

The study analyzes the economic impacts of the following scenario: (1) a $737 billion investment is made over 10 years in America’s surface transportation, water and sewer systems, aviation, water resources and water transportation; and (2) thereafter, a new normal

for infrastructure spending by holding public capital investment infrastructure steady at a fixed share of GDP, in the range of 1.2 percent. This investment would return infrastructure systems to a state of good repair, expand capacity to meet future demand and fund innovative approaches to future infrastructure challenges.