Infrastructure Bank Back in Play as Idea in Search of Its Time

Senate Democrats and Republicans trying to turn President Joe Biden’s signature infrastructure plan into legislation are looking to a new bank to help pay for roads, bridges, and transit.

The idea, endorsed in a framework last week from a group of about 20 senators, has been floated for decades as an alternative to raising the gasoline tax or other infrastructure funding mechanisms. Democratic Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), who has been advocating for a $20 billion infrastructure bank, called it “a personal part of the package.”

Proponents have argued that a federal infrastructure bank would allow more private funding to pay ...