---
title: "Why Filling Potholes Won’t Be Enough to Grow the U.S. Economy"
summary: |-
  Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have expressed support for more federal spending on infrastructure, but merely repairing roads and bridges won't fix America's productivity problem, writes Rob Atkinson in the Christian Science Monitor.
date: "2016-10-04"
issues: ["Transportation"]
authors: ["Robert D. Atkinson"]
content_type: "Op-Eds & Contributed Articles"
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2016/10/04/why-filling-potholes-wont-be-enough-grow-us-economy/"
---

# Why Filling Potholes Won’t Be Enough to Grow the U.S. Economy

America faces an investment deficit, and if the country is going to solve it in a way that puts people to work and boosts long-term growth, it needs to do more than repave existing roads and repair existing bridges, writes Rob Atkinson in the *Christian Science Monitor*. It also need to make sure that a sizable share of the $275 billion to $550 billion that both presidential candidates are proposing for infrastructure goes to building new roads and bridges, systematically making all infrastructure smarter with information technology, and investing in cutting-edge science and engineering research.

---
*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2016/10/04/why-filling-potholes-wont-be-enough-grow-us-economy/*