Public Spending on Transportation and Water Infrastructure, 1956 to 2014

Public spending on transportation and water infrastructure totaled $416 billion in 2014; about one-quarter of that spending came from the federal government. Adjusted to remove the effects of inflation in the prices of materials and other inputs, public purchases of infrastructure fell by 9 percent from their peak in 2003 to their 2014 level. That decline occurred almost exclusively within the category of capital purchases, which fell by 23 percent after adjusting for inflation.