PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is calling on the nation's governors to become a force for investment in repair and improvement of roads, bridges and railways.

Rendell is the new chairman of the National Governors' Association, which ended its summer meeting in Philadelphia on Monday.

Rendell says many are skeptical about spending on infrastructure improvements, considering them pork-barrel projects of questionable real value.

But he says without increased spending the deterioration of transportation and water and sewer systems threatens the United States' status as an economic power.

Rendell also warns that infrastructure improvements will only get more expensive. He says rising steel and concrete costs have caused road-building costs in Pennsylvania to increase by 34 percent in the last three years.