Blueprint America: Public Works is an effort by 18 public television stations across the country to support and report on issues of sustainability, smart growth, and infrastructure. Today, Blueprint America checks in on progress in three states: Illinois, North Carolina, and Indiana. In Indiana, a flawed water system is under the microscope. In North Carolina, development is examined for how it can best serve both the environment and its inhabitants. In Illinois, a city pushes forward a sustainability agenda.

Blueprint America: Public Works is an effort by 18 public television stations across the country that concentrates on the state of their local infrastructure. Communities -- big and small, urban and rural -- are, for the first time, collectively rethinking what it takes to make a place livable. PBS stations are producing radio and television segments, hosting discussions between policy makers and their communities, and offering further content online, all as a part of Blueprint America.

President Barack Obama's stimulus money is about to be distributed, but will it be spent in the way it is intended? One alarming example: Mass transit. Cities and states, strapped for money, are cutting back on mass transit even as it becomes more popular with Americans. At the same time, President Obama is calling for increased mass transit as a necessary step toward energy independence. Blueprint America -- with NOW on PBS -- reports from North Carolina to see what the future holds for the country's mass transit systems in these financial times.