OKC Mayor Addresses Trump’s Plan To Fix Infrastructure

When Donald Trump takes office, he said improving the country's infrastructure will be on the top of his agenda.  

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said he has some ideas on how he can do that.

Cornett, representing the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said he has requested a meeting with President-elect Trump and anticipates that it will happen before Trump takes office.

As Trump campaigned, he pointed to the disrepair of the country's roads, bridges and airports and pledged to fix it. For Oklahomans, that is likely welcome news.

“There’s no question our streets should be better and our state highways should be better,” said Cornett.  

News 9 spoke with Cornett via satellite Monday. He's in Washington D.C. working on an effort to combat partisanship and get things done in the nation’s Capitol and said this is an issue that both sides of the aisle need to address.

“We think the nation’s infrastructure is in bad need of repair there is deferred maintenance in our city streets and our nation’s highways and bridges and certainly inside our water systems and our airports,” he said. 

He said Oklahomans could not only benefit from a national investment in infrastructure but the nation could also learn from Oklahoma. He pointed to the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority as an example of a way to pay for new highways.

But Cornett said it will take creativity, especially as our country speeds into the future with the arrival of self-driving vehicles.

“I think that’s going to drastically change traffic congestion in our nation’s highways, it’s going to change the way that freight moves around from one city to another. I think there’s a role for the federal government getting our highways ready for the autonomous movement,” he said.