President-elect says “Build Back Better” plan will have “historic investments in infrastructure.”

Brightline West, developer of the proposed $8-billion high-speed train between Southern California and Las Vegas—a project that has been on financial hold since last fall—now says the project is back on track.

Proponents include construction, labor, transportation, environmental, and clean-energy groups.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, cited ASCE’s study, “Failure to Act: Economic Impacts of Status Quo Investment Across Infrastructure Systems,” as ideal starting point for the infrastructure financing discussion.

Plans are moving ahead this week for two massive projects that would deliver 100-year flood protection for the lower Mississippi Valley. The question is whether the money and political will exists for the two protection systems to materialize.