Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/infrastructure-success-in-boston-raises-prospect-of-future-urban-spending Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The success of Boston's Big Dig infrastructure program raises the prospect of future large state expenditures on similar programs. A fiscal policy analyst and urban planner lay out their respective positions on the benefit of such an investment. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. RAY SUAREZ: And, Chris Edwards, who pays the bill, then? CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO Institute: I think the bill should be paid by a combination of both government infrastructure, where private infrastructure is not possible. But increasingly I think the bill should be paid by private companies.Building highways, for example, we've got many examples now around the world of private toll highways. Northern Virginia, where I live, there's a 14-mile private toll highway that's been operating for over a decade.Airports have been privatized around the world. London, Vienna, airports in Australia have been privatized. Even infrastructure such as air traffic control has been privatized successfully in Canada.So state and local governments are spending, actually, a pretty good chunk of money now on capital investment. Capital investment at the state and local level is now about 2.5 percent of GDP. That's actually up from the average during the '80s and '90s.However, our roads and airports are still very congested. I think the answer is innovative financing, going to the private sector for building new highways, expanding airports, and that sort of infrastructure.