(Mark your Calendars: RealShare NEW YORK at the Marriott Marquis on October 12.)

NEW YORK CITY-With 100 million people expected to move into American’s urban centers within the next 40 years, panelists at the Professional Women in Construction’s July 28 New York Transportation Forum agreed: the United States needs a major infrastructure overhaul. But funding major capital projects--like high-speed rail--is the next challenge to help mobilize the region.

“We do believe rail is the solution in the passenger and freight arena,” said Karen Rae, deputy administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, noting that 85% of the growing population is moving back to the nation’s metropolitan cores, where the infrastructure can be upwards of 100 years old. “We have a lot of choices. We have the choice to do something or do nothing. As President Obama said, we can really focus on allowing construction to help build and improve rail.”