A new study conducted by Arizent, the parent company of The Bond Buyer, examined the current state of infrastructure planning and found low levels of confidence toward policies amid recession fears, inflation, political divisions and difficulties with accessing funds.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law in November 2021, during a time of extremely low interest rates and record-high stock market returns, and provided one of the largest federal investments into infrastructure, including $550 billion of new spending over the next five years.
Macroeconomic conditions have changed dramatically since then, creating new challenges to an expensive and complicated system of planned infrastructure. With three quarters of these projects being funded by state and local governments, along with the support from the municipal bond market, stakeholders have pressing concerns about the future of these investments.