We highly recommend this nuanced take on recent federal infrastructure funding outlined in the article below from Small Towns. While having additional federal infrastructure funding is crucial to the continued success of our changing communities, we also recognize that with big money comes big challenges. – Hill Country Alliance


So, the behemoth of an infrastructure bill finally passed over the weekend. And there was much rejoicing…

Well, not from us. At Strong Towns, we’ve been skeptical of the current bill and the national obsession with it. Charles Marohn, president of Strong Towns wrote a five-part series on the problems with the bill and why we should stop fixating on it. (Read the whole series here.)

We hold a great deal of skepticism around infrastructure funding generally because it so often goes to projects that are unnecessary, harmful, and have no plan in place to pay for their long-term maintenance. In fact, federal infrastructure money like the billions packed into the latest bill typically enables some of the worst projects that would never happen without that funding, because they simply don’t make sense.

Read more from Strong Towns here.