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From Vetocracy to Capacity: Rebalancing State Power and Stakeholder Interests in American Infrastructure Development
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2025-05-01
[PDF-647.40 KB]
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Edition:Final, September 2023 – May 2025
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Abstract:This paper examines the institutional and regulatory factors driving excessive delays and cost overruns in American transportation infrastructure development. The United States faces a paradox: despite being one of the wealthiest nations globally, it has become increasingly unable to build critical infrastructure efficiently, with costs often two to three times higher than peer nations and timelines extending decades beyond initial projections. Through analysis of historical development paradigms and contemporary case studies, the report identifies four interconnected sources of dysfunction: an environmental review process that has evolved into a series of litigation-prone veto points, diminished state capacity leading to over-reliance on private consultants, procurement practices that incentivize underbidding and subsequent litigation, and a fractured institutional environment that fosters interagency conflict. The paper argues that these problems reflect a transition from the muscular state-led development of the New Deal era to today's "vetocracy," where procedural requirements and interest group opposition routinely override broader public interests. The paper then proposes a series of institutional reforms focused on tempering NEPA and judicial review, coordinating government response through lead agencies, making design and procurement more flexible, and rebuilding state expertise. These reforms would rebalance power between government actors and opposition groups without abandoning essential environmental and community protections. We conclude that America's infrastructure challenges require not just increased funding, but a fundamental reconsideration of how institutional arrangements structure decision-making and mediate competing interests in the development process.
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