Permitting reform to reliable, consistent investment: Key takeaways from Infrastructure Week
"You can't patch your way to prosperity," Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said during United for Infrastructure's signature Infrastructure Week event. This statement from Sen. Capito perfectly encapsulates the key theme of Infrastructure Week 2025 and every Infrastructure Week that preceded it. Significant infrastructure investment is foundational to growing our economy, building resilience, strengthening national security, and more.
Initial discussions around surface transportation reauthorization are already underway, and the need for permitting reform was a near-constant refrain at UFI's event: Stronger Infrastructure, Stronger Nation: Innovate, Secure, Compete [Link to recording].
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
Permitting reform
What regulations should be reformed and how will be a point of significant debate, but there is consensus that reform is needed to speed up project timelines. Sen. Capito highlighted Corridor H in her home state of West Virginia as an example of the government's to move projects forward and complete them in a timely manner. Corridor H is a 130-mile highway project that will span the mountains from I-79 at Weston and cross the border into the Commonwealth of Virginia to the Virginia Inland Port; the project has been in the works since the mid-1960s.
"Legislative permitting reform is the only way that we are going to solidify the infrastructure development of the future. If we have to go through the regulatory or executive orders of every four years – one going one way, one going the other – it's just not a solid way to do business," said Sen. Capito.
Bechtel Chairman and CEO Brendan Bechtel spoke during a fireside chat with CNBC correspondent Emily Wilkins.
During a fireside chat with CNBC correspondent Emily Wilkins, Bechtel Chairman and CEO Brendan Bechtel cited an upcoming McKinsey study that found that it takes 4 years for $1 of infrastructure investment to show up in the economy.
"There's somewhere between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion stuck in the permitting queue," Bechtel said, specifically calling for litigation reforms around the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Water Act, and Clean Air Act. "We want to keep all the environmental and social protections, which the nation has made so much progress on since the 1960s, but we shouldn't have to go through the same steps over and over again."
"It's about having a more predictable permitting system," he added.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is already looking at potential process and regulatory changes, including NEPA. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy Loren Smith told attendees that the department has convened a working group to streamline the permitting processes and cut through "overly burdensome" red tape.
"We are working to build great infrastructure and get grants moving with an eye on safety. Safety is our number one priority," Smith said.
Other key points
In addition to permitting reform, panelists and speakers addressed bipartisanship, energy reliability, infrastructure resiliency, and the need for more funding. Here some top quotes from the event.
Pictured left to right on the "Private Capital: Unlocking New Transportation & Infrastructure Investments" panel: Jannet Walker-Ford of WSP; Nicolas Rubio of Meridiam; Jon Phillips of Global Infrastructure Investor Association; and Kat Sadeghi of HNTB.
"We've taken a treadmill to a marathon. We are running and running and expending energy and going nowhere." – Marsia Geldert-Murphey, 2024 President of ASCE, on the need for consistent, reliable infrastructure funding [Hear more]
"What policy is going to bring the most electrons online? ... Until you can bring electrons online as fast as they are being consumed – you don't have to be a Ph.D economist to know if demand goes up, prices go up." – Christopher Guith, Senior Vice President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute [Hear more]
"Messaging is so important, engaging the groups in the language that they understand. You can't go in it with a sledgehammer approach. ... When you talk about the importance of the future and our children and why we need to protect our natural assets, it changes the discussion, so we got buy in." – Mayor Daniel Rickenmann of Columbia, S.C. on the passage of a penny sales tax to support infrastructure investment [Hear more]
"We have a problem. If we don't change the way we think, the way we work between the public and the private sector, then that [$3.7 trillion infrastructure funding] gap is not going to close." – Jon Phillips, CEO of Global Infrastructure Investors Association [Hear more]
"An investment in infrastructure is an investment in manufacturing in America." – Christopher Phalen, Vice President of Domestic Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers [Hear more]
"If we want to have a mature manufacturing supply chain here in the United States, we need to have consistency in government investments and consistency in policies. " – Greg Regan, President of AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department [Hear more]
Thank you to Steering Committee partner, Business Roundtable, for hosting Stronger Infrastructure, Stonger Nation: Innovate, Secure, Compete!
Want to hear more? You can watch a recording of the event on Vimeo.
Infrastructure Week 2025 Highlights
United for Infrastructure partners and colleagues have been hosting events throughout the week to celebrate the impact of infrastructure investment. Join the conversation by following @United4Infra or use hashtags: #InfrastructureWeek #InfrastructureWorks #UnitedForInfrastructure so that we can amplify your involvement!
Marsia Geldert-Murphey, 2024 President of ASCE, and ASCE member Ana Tijerina Esquino of Mott MacDonald held a Hill briefing on the organization's 2025 Report Card on America's Infrastructure.
Adie Tomer, Senior Fellow at Brookings Metro, interviewed Rep. Rick Larsen (Ranking Member, House T&I) during The Brookings Institution's Infrastructure Week event, "Pathways to Regional Prosperity: The Case for Investing in Transformative Infrastructure."
Celebration of Construction on the National Mall 2025 allows people to get up close with construction equipment.
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan delivered the keynote address at the GIIA Symposium: Funding the Future of U.S. Infrastructure. GIIA is a consortium of private infrastructure investors.