Some $120 billion will be spent on infrastructure as a part of the $787 billion economic stimulus package passed by Congress. The establishment of a National Infrastructure Bank was not included in the final recovery plan. As a result, other than an overall stimulus in infrastructure spending by the federal government, the funding practices for public works projects – largely for highways and mass transit – remain the same. Still, it is not yet clear how a National Infrastructure Bank would function.

A breakdown of the progress of the National Infrastructure Bank so far

President Obama has called for a National Infrastructure Bank. And, the structure already exists on the state level.

Stan Hazelroth, Executive Director of the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, recently spoke with Blueprint America on the effectiveness of the program so far and how the structure might be applied federally.

Blueprint America correspondent Rick Karr on the viability of electric rail in America.

With carbon emissions caps on the Obama Administration's agenda, coal is at the center of the energy debate. NOW's Senior Correspondent Maria Hinojosa goes to Wyoming to report on the state's coal industry, and its assertion that it can produce "clean coal" -- coal that can be burned without releasing carbon into the atmosphere.

The national credit crisis is hitting the housing market again, this time resulting in bankruptcy -- for builders.

Blueprint America -- with Weekend America -- in a report on modern day gas prospecting in the hills of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Gas exploration has been happening in Pennsylvania since the 1800s. However, a new technology and new price incentives have made possible the exploration of the Marcellus shale. It is a geological formation – the size of Greece – stretching from New York to West Virginia and holding what could become the nation’s most prolific natural gas reservoir.

The bipartisan organization Building America's Future, co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I.), California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R.), and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (D.), just released the results of a national survey indicating that Americans are willing to pay more taxes to fix the nation's infrastructure.

About one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in New York City and its suburbs. And the cost to maintain one of the world’s most extensive mass transit systems is expensive. Each new subway car, for example, costs $1.4 million. Replacing and maintaining tracks runs the state's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) about $303 million a year. In order to pay for subway maintenance and projects over the years, the MTA has had to borrow a lot of money for funding. So much so that the MTA is now the fifth biggest debtor in the United States – after the state of California, the state of Massachusetts, New York State, and New York City. Blueprint America looks at the costs of maintaining New York City's transportation system and the difficulties involved when making improvements.