According to the Center on Budget and Policies Priorities,[xvi] approximately 3 percent (or $108 billion) of the federal budget went for transportation infrastructure in 2008-far short of the unfunded $1.4 trillion the ASCE asserts is needed to improve our transportation grade.
States are facing their own budget constraints-even budget crises-and are unable to make up for these shortfalls. Our infrastructure needs must be addressed; this is an open opportunity for the private sector to step up to the plate and make a contribution.
In our February 18, 2010 phone conversation, David Birtwistle, Vice President of Business Development for Balfour Beatty's[xlvii] Washington division suggested that the public sector's constituents (i.e., you and me) have started questioning the public sector's ability to meet our common infrastructure needs and that public-private partnerships could be part of the solution. Birtwistle senses a change coming in the culture of public procurement.