Experts struggle to express direness of infrastructure problem to a wary public

None of that has persuasively connected with the public, the collected experts agreed.

“Ultimately, it comes down to a trust issue,” said Emil Frankel, an assistant secretary for transportation in the Bush administration who now works at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

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Thau said that for years polling has shown many Americans believe about half of every dollar spent on transportation is wasted.

Congress has itself to blame for the deep public cynicism. Although earmarks became commonplace in bills of all sorts during the 1980s and 1990s, nowhere were the pet projects of individual members more likely to appear than in transportation bills. There were 6,000 of them in the last long-term transportation bill in 2005.

A $223 million bridge in Alaska proposed to replace a seven-minute ferry ride and serve an island populated by 50 people became notorious as the “bridge to nowhere.”

Though it was never built, that bridge became iconic as the ultimate self-indulgent pork barrel project, bandied about by presidential candidates and tea party nominees for Congress.

The transportation bills currently in play on Capitol Hill — one approved by a Senate committee and a House bill that has been described but not made public — are promised to be earmark-free.

But the damage of the bridge to nowhere and the legacy of earmarks cannot be surmounted unless those who advocate for an infusion of cash into infrastructure better communicate their urgency.

“People are much more open to additional spending if the impact on their local community is articulated,” said Catharine Ransom, whose Glover Park Group communications group was invited to the conference to help plan a strategy.

In addition to keeping the message local — referendums to spend on local transportation projects are approved overwhelmingly — advocates should focus on positive outcomes, like job growth, and emphasize the success of projects that come in on time and under budget. Warnings are rarely heeded, Ransom said.

“People are not receptive to messages that focus on negative consequences,” she said.