The Romans built bridges, temples and viaducts that could still be used thousands of years after construction. Throughout Europe and China are infrastructures that have withstood fires, wars, wear and tear and are still serving a purpose. While in America, our interstate highways built less than 60 years ago are falling apart. City buildings, built perhaps 100 years ago, are dilapidated, obsolete and ready to be torn down. Our utility pipelines are rotting in the ground while we pay a fortune to maintain them, and insurers pay claims when they explode.
There are two ways to deal with infrastructure. First, build solidly so that it will last forever. We rarely do that. The second is to build it quickly and get it into use, then add to it as demand increases until the whole thing is worn out and blows up, falls apart or becomes an eyesore and is replaced. For public property, that expense is paid through taxes. For individuals, maintenance comes from wallets — providing there is anything in them besides credit cards — and occasionally from insurance when things not maintained burst.
The nuts and bolts of infrastructure
By 2035, the nation's railroads will be 200 years old. Railroads replaced canals, although a few remain viable. Railways diminished as highways expanded, but what rail remains is well maintained by the railroads, not the taxpayers. Steve Sweeney reported in the August issue of Trains that the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colo., is testing ways to repair railroad bridges. Sweeney explains that they bolt steel plates and supports to corroded bridge braces to strengthen them so that bridges don't have to be temporarily taken out of service or replaced with a new bridge.
If this works for 100-year-old railroad bridges, could it not work for interstate highway bridges only half that age? Nearly half of America's highway bridges are stressed; one-third are in poor to mediocre condition with 2000 of them needing overhaul, and 26 percent are obsolete, according to studies by the American Society of Civil Engineers reports the Journal of Bridge Engineering.
Where will the money to repair or replace come from? Congress sits on Highway Trust Fund legislation that would free up money for cash-strapped states to begin repairs. That money comes from fuel taxes, and with ups and downs of oil prices, tax revenue also fluctuates. Yet while the interstate system is jammed with traffic, including thousands of heavy tractor trailers, many state highways in rural areas are in great shape and practically empty.
Power in state legislatures
It may seem odd that while many interstates, especially in urban areas, are overcrowded and obsolete, even with the expansion to six, eight, and 10 or more lanes, outside urban areas states are building beautiful four-lane divided highways with nobody on them. On an annual jaunt to Florida, I can drive from suburban Atlanta to Central Florida on U.S. 19 and count the number of trucks I see in either direction on one hand. It is a four-lane divided highway all to myself. Where is everybody? Over on I-75, which is mostly four-lane or occasionally six, and it's the same on I-95, I-65, I-5 and all the other "I"s. No wonder those bridges wear out!
In virtually every state most legislators who allocate highway funds come from small towns and rural counties where a new highway construction project is great for local contractors. Big cities are not as wealthy as they once were; businesses have moved out of downtowns to suburban perimeters, taking the tax revenue with them. Available cash in cities goes for immediate needs: police, fire departments, hospitals, snow removal or pumping water to the public. There is no money left for fixing bridges or roads with potholes, repaving expressways or replacing pipelines.
Other advanced nations have high-speed rail to move their people. The U.S. has traffic jams. When older American cities experience daily water main breaks, spilling thousands of gallons needed for practically everything, it becomes clear that America needs to start thinking about a new way to manage its infrastructure. It's too late to build it right in the first place, so expensive maintenance or replacement is the last resort.
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