Henry Cisneros is an unapologetic infrastructure wonk.
He easily recalls every freeway, drainage tunnel and nuclear power project he shepherded as San Antonio mayor from 1981 to 1989 and can expound on the nation’s 65,000 failing bridges or China’s 6,000 miles of track for its 200 mph trains.
So, perhaps it is unsurprising that in his new role as CEO of a San Antonio-based infrastructure finance firm, Cisneros has unveiled a nationwide survey that identified some 1,800 major U.S. infrastructure projects that local governments say are immediate funding priorities.
The study, done with Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, could serve as a blueprint or wish-list from 134 of the country’s metro areas as the Biden administration lays the groundwork for a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill due in the spring.
Eight Bexar County governmental entities, including VIA Metropolitan Transit, SAWS and CPS Energy, participated in the survey, listing some familiar projects such as VIA’s $554 million bus rapid transit proposal and Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s $100 million digital divide initiative.
Bexar County officials listed an alternate airport runway at Kelly Field/Port San Antonio, clocking in at up to $180 million. The San Antonio River Authority wants to restore West Side creeks at $50 million to $100 million. The city wants to spend at least $30 million on historic buildings.
From his refurbished office on the West Side, Cisneros was quick to say that he was not endorsing “the worthiness, scale or cost” of any particular project, but hoped the 40-page study would put a laser focus on specific needed projects as another new president tackles the perennial problem of infrastructure funding.
“This is a step forward for getting past the pandemic and a step forward in dealing with climate change,” Cisneros said. “Infrastructure is not the silver bullet, but it is part of the answer in almost every city and rural area in America.”
One of the most important features of the “bottom up” study was that all the ideas came directly from local governments and not Congress or federal agencies, he said.
Cisneros, a former Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Bill Clinton, said his firm – American Triple I (short for infrastructure, innovation and investment) – receives a fee when it connects private investors with government infrastructure projects. Triple I is an affiliate of Siebert Cisneros Shank, an investment bank led by Suzanne Shank.
It does no actual construction, but Cisneros said it has worked on the 240-mile Texas Central high-speed rail project, which hopes to connect Dallas and Houston (with a stop in College Station), another rail project in California and various airport deals, among other efforts.
“We don’t expect any particular financial return on this study,” he said. “We’re just describing the need to the country. I want to help start the conversation.”
The new study lists projects in a lengthy spreadsheet format, with estimated price tags, filtered through a handful of assumptions about national policy priorities.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who represents San Antonio, Austin and San Marcos, said he liked the “important” Cisneros study because, among other things, it highlighted the need for climate change resiliency, especially in light of the recent massive Texas freeze-out that exposed the state’s vulnerable market-driven power grid.
“The San Antonio highway projects are also very important to me,” said Doggett, D-Austin. “But we cannot pave our way out of our transportation problems, so we must have the public transportation projects outlined in the report by VIA, as well as the cycling and pedestrian improvements.”
After seeing the report, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, echoed the need to reject “dogma by state officials against any projects but roads.” With interest rates at historic lows, “now is the time to go big with infrastructure,” he said.
Doggett said Biden’s infrastructure bill would have to be at least as large as the $1.5 trillion bill that the U.S. House passed last year, but which got nowhere in the Senate under then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“I don’t see how you could do it for any less,” Doggett said. “It would cost us one trillion just to repair what we have and not improve anything. This will be far more than just an infrastructure and transportation bill. It may be the most important climate change legislation that we vote on this session.”
Donald Trump also proposed a trillion dollar-plus infrastructure bill during his 2016 campaign – double what Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, wanted – but a coalition of mayors and governors supporting it unraveled, partly in reaction to his racist remarks and inflammatory comments about immigration, writes Brookings Institute senior fellow D.J. Gribbin.
Gribbin, who worked 15 months in the Trump White House, also believe the administration did too much bottom-up thinking, gathering hundreds of ideas from state and local leaders, getting lost in minutiae “and missing the opportunity to make infrastructure policy tangible…in the daily lives of typical Americans.”
In Texas, there might be other obstacles. Will regulation-averse state officials go for all that federal spending? Cisneros doesn’t think so.
“We already cooperate with the federal government on most infrastructure projects. That’s just political rhetoric,” he said.
Some of the local priorities submitted to the Cisneros study are still in planning stages. Others have received some level of funding.
They include a 11.7 mile, $320 million bus rapid transit line VIA wants to build from San Antonio International Airport to Brooks City Base, and a 7.8 mile, $234 million line from the AT&T Center to downtown and Port San Antonio.
VIA also wants $100 million to $200 million for a second maintenance and operating facility and to refurbish its 1947-era maintenance facility.
SAWS listed $30 million to $40 million for a Turtle Creek pump station, installation of “advanced metering” across San Antonio for $50 million to $100 million, and up to $10 million to replace its Beauregard water main replacement.
Bexar County told the survey it could use $135 million to $180 million for an alternate runway at Kelly Field/Port San Antonio, $50 million to $100 million for a new terminal and “other enhancements” at San Antonio International Airport and $50 million to $100 million to expand broadband in rural areas.
The San Antonio River Authority’s Westside Creeks Ecosystem Restoration Project would cost $50 million to $100 million, and it also wants $40 million to $50 million to upgrade its utilities system.
The Brooks Development Authority listed improvemtns to roads and highway intersections, including up to $30 million to rebuild Sidney Brooks Street.
The Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization listed its big highway projects, with their billion-with-a-b price tags: Interstate 35 from Loop 410 South to FM 1103 ($2.9 billion), Loop 1604 North from Texas 16 to I-35 ($1 billion) and I-10 East from Loop 410 to Seguin ($1.9 billion.)
The City of San Antonio listed “micromobility and multimodal transportation” projects that would total $50 million to $100 million, large park redevelopments, also $50 million to $100 million, and the protection of historical or culturally significant buildings at $30 million to $40 million.
CPS Energy infrastructure priorities include grid modernization, at $20 million to $30 million, grid and cyber-security upgrades, at $10 million per year for five years.
