Mayors' group to address infrastructure needs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. urban leaders will call on Thursday for increased investment in roads, bridges and other aging infrastructure, as well as upgrades to public transit systems as ridership soars amid high gasoline costs, the head of a mayors' group said.

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, newly elected president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said in an interview on Wednesday that he and other mayors hope to create a new plan for long-term investment in U.S. infrastructure.

"We need a federal capital infrastructure program and a budget that goes with it," Diaz told Reuters. "For many years we've all read and heard about programs and funding for bridges to nowhere, and that's the way that America has typically invested in its infrastructure."

Diaz, who said public transit and the availability of water are two of the most pressing needs facing his own city, will meet with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and about a dozen other mayors at an infrastructure forum in New York.

With Americans starting to drive less because of high gas prices, investment in things like public rail is essential, Diaz said.

"America is beginning to change its habits, which I think is a good thing, and government investment ought to follow," he said.

The federal government is under growing pressure to increase infrastructure spending. The American Society of Civil Engineers has estimated that $1.6 trillion is needed to repair roads, bridges, power plants and other systems.

The event is one of several by the mayors' group to try to get attention on urban issues ahead of the U.S. presidential election. Last week, the group held a forum in Philadelphia on crime. Other forums are planned on poverty, arts and culture, and the environment.

Recommendations from the forums will be presented to the next president during the first 100 days of the new administration.

Diaz said the mayors on Thursday will review the infrastructure proposals of presidential contenders John McCain and Barack Obama with policy advisers to the candidates.

In conjunction with the meeting, the mayors' group is also set to release a report on Thursday showing the positive economic impact of water and sewer investment.

The report says that every $1 spent on public water and sewer infrastructure investment increases gross domestic product by $6.35, through things such as job creation and the supplies that go into the construction.

The study also cites U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that adding one new job in water and sewer infrastructure creates 3.68 jobs in the national economy to support that job.

"The expert consensus is that public infrastructure investment yields positive returns, and investment in water and sewer infrastructure has greater returns than most other types of public infrastructure," Martin Chavez, mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico, said in a statement accompanying the report.

(Editing by Phil Berlowitz)