Dive Brief:

• Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers told The New York Times on Thursday that more federal spending on infrastructure improvements would make accidents, like this week’s Amtrak derailment, less likely.

• “Even before the smoke settled over the crash or a cause [was] determined, the cry for more money was heard far and wide,” the newspaper reported.

• Government spending on construction is at a 22-year low, The Times reported. In addition, the federal Highway Trust Fund is projected to run out of money by August, and if it does, federal highway and transit construction all over the country could be delayed or canceled.

Dive Insight:

Although the crash that killed eight in Philadelphia on Tuesday night has been blamed on excessive speed, the incident has brought attention to what many call a “crumbling” national infrastructure and the lack of funds to build and repair highways, bridges, airports and transit systems.

Summers told The Times: "A major infrastructure investment program would reduce long-run deferred maintenance liabilities, raise demand and G.D.P., put construction workers back to work and raise investment."