Why Infrastructure Spending Should Empower Megaregions Federal funding formulas need to evolve to help regional governing bodies to accelerate both large and community-focused projects that have an impact across these large population clusters. June 9, 2021 • (Source: Wikipedia Commons) When President Biden assumed office, he brought with him the promise to act quickly on a vast array of interwoven national challenges. After getting much-needed help to communities challenged by COVID-19, passing a comprehensive federal infrastructure package now sits at the top of the president’s agenda. Changing decades-old formulas for infrastructure funding and how the money is distributed are not new topics for discussion. As a nation, we have been arguing over this approach for more than a generation. While the importance of infrastructure makes intense debates appropriate, one critical element of such policy is often overlooked: the role and importance of large population clusters — “megaregions” — within and between adjoining states. The infrastructure debate must start including a discussion on how to further empower regional governing bodies to effectively accelerate megaregional infrastructure projects already identified as feasible and desired in local communities.