New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell, recently announced a “Building America's Future” coalition to educate presidential candidates on the importance of infrastructure investment. Longer term, the Rockefeller Foundation-supported body will provide state and local government officials best practices for infrastructure funding.

“We can all look at recent headlines in New Orleans, air traffic congestion in the Northeast, or the bridge collapse in Minnesota to realize that our nation's infrastructure is in need of serious attention,” Mayor Bloomberg said in a statement. “But, those examples only scratch the surface of the problem. Funding to maintain our existing infrastructure, as well as improve and expand infrastructure as our nation continues to grow, just hasn't been the priority it needs to be.”

While the nation needs infrastructure work totalling $1.6 trillion over the next five years, Gov. Schwarzenegger added, federal investment has been cut nearly in half when measured as a percentage of the gross domestic product since 1987. “This is disastrous, because without adequate infrastructure to quickly and safely move goods and people, our economy and our traffic will stop dead in its tracks,” he said.