WASHINGTON (AFP, REUTERS) - US President Donald Trump called on Tuesday (Wednesday morning Singapore time) for a US$1.5 trillion (S$1.97 trillion) investment plan to renew the country's creaking transport infrastructure, in his first State of the Union address.

"We will build gleaming new roads, bridges, highways, railways, and waterways across our land," he told Congress.

"And we will do it with American heart, American hands, and American grit."

Trump offered no other details of the spending plan, such as how much federal money would go into it, but said it was time to address America's "crumbling infrastructure."

Rather than increase federal spending massively, Trump said: "Every federal dollar should be leveraged by partnering with state and local governments and, where appropriate, tapping into private-sector investment."

The administration has already released an outline of a plan that would make it easier for states to build tollways and to privatise rest stops along interstate highways.

McKinsey & Company researchers say that US$150 billion a year will be required between now and 2030, or about US$1.8 trillion in total, to fix all the country's infrastructure needs.

The American Society of Civil Engineers, a lobbying group with an interest in infrastructure spending, puts it at US$2 trillion over 10 years.

Trump said any infrastructure bill needed to cut the regulation and approval process that he said delayed the building of bridges, highways and other infrastructure. He wants the approval process reduced to two years, "and perhaps even one."

Cutting regulation is a top priority of business lobbying groups with a stake in building projects and the US Chamber of Commerce.