President Donald Trump on Wednesday in Cincinnati presented his plan to improve the nation's infrastructure and once again make the country a nation of "builders," giving state and local authorities more freedom of action, fewer environmental regulations and more private support.

"It's time to recapture our legacy as a nation of builders," Trump said in a speech on the bank of the Ohio River to business and union leaders, as well as workers in the mining and steelmaking sectors, where the president intends for his plan to create new jobs.

We will "create new lanes of travel, commerce, and discovery, and we're going to see all the way into the future, which is going to be beautiful, and ... bright," he said.

According to Trump, during his election campaign last year he saw firsthand that infrastructure all over the country was "crumbling" and he found communities were "desperate" for new highways and bridges.

Saying that the American public deserves the best infrastructure in the world, the mogul, whose own fortune was made in the construction industry, said that the federal government in recent years has spent "billions and billions" of dollars abroad while leaving such projects at home by the wayside.

"We will not be content to allow our nation to become a museum for former glories," Trump said, adding, "We will construct incredible new monuments to American grit and inspire wonder for generations and generations. We will build because our prosperity demands it and above all we will build because that is how we make America great again."

According to the White House, the US infrastructure system has fallen to 12th place in the world ranking and that is "unacceptable."

Trump's proposal includes $200 billion in federal spending for infrastructure within the trillion dollars he intends to see invested in such projects with the help of the private sector.

The president also said that he wants to drastically reduce the wait time for approval of infrastructure projects, which have been slowed down in recent years by environmental regulations that have raised costs and pushed back completion dates, according to the White House.

Trump called upon Republicans and Democrats in Congress to join together to approve the investments needed in infrastructure, but his proposal has already been questioned by some lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, who warned in a statement that the plan is based on "privatization" schemes to finance the projects that, in the final analysis, will only benefit wealthy investors.