Top 100 U.S. infrastructure projects announced

In the backdrop of the current economic crises, these projects define the ‘powerfully competitive and critical path forward’ in line with the strategic infrastructure plans that have been mooted by the Obama administration to improve the nation’s uncertain infrastructure stock and a regional need to create an environmental friendly and productive infrastructure, according to the study.

The list has been released ahead of the North American Strategic Infrastructure Leadership Forum expected to be held later this year.

The forum also intends to host, in addition to these projects, the leading projects in neighboring Canada and Mexico.

All the top 100 projects identified were done so along three broad parameters. One, whether the possibility of it going forward in the next 12 months is strong; two, its criticality in terms of being perceived as being integral to the fabric of U.S. competitiveness; and three, how relevant the premise of the projects are with respect to the Obama governmentÂ’s commitment to infrastructure priorities.

Infrastructure projects are broadly classified as smart grid, traditional and new age. The Smart Grid infrastructure projects are the ones which involve the operating system of the modern economy, perceived by many gurus to be the most important investment arena in the U.S. economy. Almost 14% of the top 100 projects are in this category, including 6 energy transmission projects (estimated at around $25.1 billion) and 8 renewable energy projects (approximately $15.3 billion).

Traditional infrastructure involves expenditure on those physical structures which form the crux of our operating economy today and which have enabled us to remain competitive in our businesses till the present day.

These projects were assessed on how effective they can be expected to be in refurbishing these existing structures. Selected projects include 17 in surface transportation ($58.3 billion), seven in ports and logistics ($5 billion), four in conventional electricity production ($21.4 billion), nine in natural gas – including pipelines, LNG terminals and exploration ($55.1 billion) – and 14 in water/wastewater management ($19 billion).