A CRITIQUE of infrastructure spending.

Centralized federal tax funding of these projects makes inefficiencies and waste even likelier, as Washington, driven by political calculations, gives the green light to bridges to nowhere, ill-considered high-speed rail projects, and other boondoggles.

America needs an infrastructure renaissance, but we won’t get it by the federal government simply writing big checks. A far better model would be for infrastructure to be managed by independent but focused local public and private entities and funded primarily by user fees, not federal tax dollars.

Click through and read the City Journal article. I'm not a fan of private/toll roads, but there is a case to be made for much less federal involvement in infrastructure construction and financing.