The North east and mid west are the areas that need the most money for infrastructure but try selling that to people driving on the crappy Alabama highways and unlike the north and the mid west Alabama doesn't really have the money to it themselves. Everyone agrees we need to spend more money but no one agrees where and giving out as block grants to the state takes to much control away from Washington and they hate to give up control once they have it.
While it seems simple people forget that the US is really a federation of 50 sovereign states. Which would be worse, asking Germany to pay for new roads in Croatia or Croatia to pay for new roads in Germany? It would depend on who you asked and the most likely answer is neither side will agree so it won't get done.