While driving on LA freeways, I sometimes wonder: how strong are these structures? Were they meant to handle the huge amounts of traffic?

I hope so. But I also realize that throughout the US the infrastructure is getting old and needs replacement.

Well, the private equity folks are seeing opportunity. For example, this week, The Carlyle Group announced its Carlyle Infrastructure Partners fund, which has about $1.15 billion under management.

The geographic focus will be on the US as well as Canada, and Carlyle will look to invest in projects for transportation and water.

Actually, this is kind of a new area for private equity and as a result, Carlyle has hired 14 professionals to manage the fund.

More importantly, the opportunity looks vast. After all, Carlyle projects that the US will need to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure over the next five years.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.