Finally, Infrastructure Week arrived in the United States. After years of political posturing and market anticipation, a meaningful federal legislative effort to address the country’s flagging infrastructure is law.

The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) reauthorizes national surface transportation legislation and authorizes $550 billion in additional federal spending on public transit, roads and bridges, climate resiliency, water infrastructure, clean energy, broadband, among other infrastructure investments.

The institutional infrastructure market reaction to the legislation has been positive but measured. The dollar amount alone means the IIJA will support private market participation, of course, but it is still early, and exactly how and where the institutional market will benefit is less clear.

“Passage of the bill is just the beginning,” says Allan Marks, a project, energy and infrastructure finance partner at Milbank. “We