America has a grand tradition of national planning, from Thomas Jefferson's vision for roads and canals in 1808, which influenced policy for the next century (and led to America's first transcontinental railway) to Dwight Eisenhower's Federal Highway-Aid Act of 1956, which created the interstate system.
The National Defence HighwayAct actually is very interesting because the entire system of interstate highways was developed under the Eisenhower administration.
The Recovery Act included the most serious investment in our infrastructure since President Eisenhower built the InterstateHighway System in the 1950s.