The Bush administration, they had two blue ribbon commissions about infrastructure finance that recommended a lot more money, and additionally the gas tax being increased. We couldn't get them to accept being able to move forward. Since President Obama's been in office, there has been, to be charitable, a lack of enthusiasm for raising the gas tax.

Portal Bridge is based on a design from the 1840s and was already obsolete shortly after it was completed in 1910. It's a swing bridge that needs to be opened several times a week so barges can pass up and down the river. It takes about a half an hour. The problem is it fails to lock back into place on a regular basis.

Last time Congress passed a major six-year transportation bill was in 1997, since then there have been 21 short-term extensions.

The last time we raised the gas tax, which is how we built the interstate system, was 1993.

The Chinese are more successful [in building infrastructure] because in their country, only three people make the decision. ... In a country where only three people make the decision, they can decide where to put their rail line, get the money, and do it. We don't do it that way in America.

Public spending on infrastructure has fallen to its lowest level since 1947. And the U.S., which used to have the finest infrastructure in the world, is now ranked 16th according to the World Economic Forum, behind Iceland, Spain, Portugal and the United Arab Emirates.

A shortage of airports runways and gates along outmoded air traffic control systems have made U.S. air travel the most congested in the world.