Powerful group vows to make infrastructure a U.S. priority.

The Hurricane Katrina disaster brought a national focus to what had previously been a quiet, mostly state and local discussion of the nation's infrastructure needs. The Interstate 35W bridge collapse put the spotlight on the country's roads and bridges, and the term "structurally deficient'' became part of the lexicon.

But once transportation officials and bridge inspectors assured residents of dozens of major U.S. cities that the 35W failure was not systemic, the U.S. infrastructure debate became mostly background noise. Infrastructure isn't headline news for CNN or Fox -- except when it's falling apart -- and attention spans are short.

With too little fanfare earlier this year, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Govs. Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California formed a nonprofit coalition, called Building America's Future, to advocate for infrastructure as a national priority. On Friday, a little more than a week before the anniversary of the 35W failure, Bloomberg and Rendell brought their bipartisan message to the Star Tribune's Editorial Board.

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