An Abandoned Nation Falling Apart
By James Donahue
When we left Michigan in 2004 many of the highways were filled with patched pot-holes and obviously falling into disrepair. Since then the condition of the roads apparently deteriorated even farther. The newly elected Democratic Governor Gretchen E. Whitmer campaigned on a promise that she would fix the roads if elected.
Voters elected Whitmer but rejected her request for a 45 cent gas tax increase to provide $2 billion in annual tax dollars to get the job done. The Michigan Senate later approved a 15 cent increase which will provide a less ambitious road improvement project.
The Michigan issue appears to explain what has been happening to the nation’s infrastructure in recent years. Not only the roads but bridges, dams, power lines, water and sewer pipes and even the Internet are substandard throughout the country. This is an issue among many of the Democratic candidates hoping to unseat Republican Donald Trump in 2020 elections. More taxes are being levied but little is being spent maintaining the local infrastructure.
The latest “infrastructure report card” released by The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), in 2017, gave the nation a D+. The report assessed 16 major infrastructure categories which marked no change from an earlier report issued in 2013. The society estimated the cost of getting everything up to snuff by 2025 at $4.59 trillion.
When we speak of infrastructure we are referring to more than just roads. The nation’s economy is maintained by a vast network of roads, bridges, railroads, sea ports, electric grids and the internet. We are also talking about dams, levees, bus systems, airports, water and sewer systems, schools, parks and even garbage disposal. And according to the experts who study such things, the nation’s entire infrastructure, mostly constructed years ago when the population was not so demanding, is outdated, worn out and badly in need of repair.
Historian Henry Petroski in his book: The Road Taken: The History and Future of America’s Infrastructure, wrote that the delays caused by traffic congestion alone costs the economy over $120 billion per year. Airports are choked and some studies note that delays and avoided trips caused by the poor state of the nation’s airports costs the economy over $35 billion a year.
Fixing all of this is going to be a multi-trillion dollar enterprise that should be taking precedent over military and other high cost expenditures imposed by the Trump Administration. The ASCE estimates that the nation must spend some $4.5 trillion by 2025 just to improve the country’s roads, bridges, dams and airports. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) sets the price-tag at more than $800 billion just to shore up the roads and bridges.
The following is a breakdown of the problem as outlined in the ASCE and DOT reports:
--Out of the 614,387 bridges in the United States more than 200,000 are over 50 years old. Many have begun to collapse at the cost of lives and property while others have been declared unsafe and are closed to traffic. The highways also are in deteriorating condition. There is a $836 billion backlog of unmet capital needed to fix the highways and bridges the DOT report states.
--Because of crowded highways and rising fuel costs public transit is being used more and more. This mode of transportation is severely underfunded, however. The DOT report estimated a cost of about $90 billion to fix this backlog.
--Congestion in airports has become a big problem. The DOT report notes that 24 of the 30 busiest airports in the US are hitting peak traffic volume at least one day each week. An estimated two million people come through the nation’s airports every day.
--There are over 15,000 dams in need of repair and reinforcement.
--While the freight rail system is in good condition, but passenger rail service is hurting. The report states that nearly a fifth of all passenger rail lines are in “poor condition.” The average age of Amtrak’s rail service, including bridges and tunnels, are 111 years old.
--Century old water and sewer pipes are breaking. It is estimated that there are about two trillion gallons of treated water lost every year.
--Most of the electric transmission and distribution lines were built in the mid-20th Century and they have a life expectancy of about 50 years. Thus they are outdated. There is a current need to replace and update electric lines and power plants and improve the existing grid system that exists throughout the United States.
--We don’t think about it much but there are an estimated 25,000 miles of inland waterways like the Mississippi River are also used for transporting goods. The infrastructure that supports these waterways (dams and locks) also are aging and causing delays.
--The levees along the banks of the great rivers and protecting cities like New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico also are crumbling. Many are not adequate to handle the heavy flow of water from the current bank of storms and rising sea levels sweeping the nation.
--The nation’s ports are desperately in need of improvements to accommodate a fleet of giant new 1.000-foot ships and larger receiving and delivering goods from overseas. These ports also need to be adapted to accommodate a greater number of ships, and dredged to deal with the draft of heavy laden vessels entering and leaving the harbor.
--The Internet, development of wireless service and cell phones have introduced new technologies that must be addressed.
--Local, state and national parks need repairs. They also contain roads, bridges, parking areas, trails and campsites that must be maintained and improved to accommodate more and more visitors.
--Schools and colleges also are demanding improvement. A study of these institutions reveals that at least a quarter of the buildings are in need of improvement or replacement.
--And lastly, the report states that there is a growing need for new wastewater treatment plants to accommodate the growing number of people crowding our cities. There are currently an estimated 15,000 such facilities operating in the United States, and there will be a need for over 500 more of them at a cost of $271 billion by 2032.
By James Donahue
When we left Michigan in 2004 many of the highways were filled with patched pot-holes and obviously falling into disrepair. Since then the condition of the roads apparently deteriorated even farther. The newly elected Democratic Governor Gretchen E. Whitmer campaigned on a promise that she would fix the roads if elected.
Voters elected Whitmer but rejected her request for a 45 cent gas tax increase to provide $2 billion in annual tax dollars to get the job done. The Michigan Senate later approved a 15 cent increase which will provide a less ambitious road improvement project.
The Michigan issue appears to explain what has been happening to the nation’s infrastructure in recent years. Not only the roads but bridges, dams, power lines, water and sewer pipes and even the Internet are substandard throughout the country. This is an issue among many of the Democratic candidates hoping to unseat Republican Donald Trump in 2020 elections. More taxes are being levied but little is being spent maintaining the local infrastructure.
The latest “infrastructure report card” released by The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), in 2017, gave the nation a D+. The report assessed 16 major infrastructure categories which marked no change from an earlier report issued in 2013. The society estimated the cost of getting everything up to snuff by 2025 at $4.59 trillion.
When we speak of infrastructure we are referring to more than just roads. The nation’s economy is maintained by a vast network of roads, bridges, railroads, sea ports, electric grids and the internet. We are also talking about dams, levees, bus systems, airports, water and sewer systems, schools, parks and even garbage disposal. And according to the experts who study such things, the nation’s entire infrastructure, mostly constructed years ago when the population was not so demanding, is outdated, worn out and badly in need of repair.
Historian Henry Petroski in his book: The Road Taken: The History and Future of America’s Infrastructure, wrote that the delays caused by traffic congestion alone costs the economy over $120 billion per year. Airports are choked and some studies note that delays and avoided trips caused by the poor state of the nation’s airports costs the economy over $35 billion a year.
Fixing all of this is going to be a multi-trillion dollar enterprise that should be taking precedent over military and other high cost expenditures imposed by the Trump Administration. The ASCE estimates that the nation must spend some $4.5 trillion by 2025 just to improve the country’s roads, bridges, dams and airports. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) sets the price-tag at more than $800 billion just to shore up the roads and bridges.
The following is a breakdown of the problem as outlined in the ASCE and DOT reports:
--Out of the 614,387 bridges in the United States more than 200,000 are over 50 years old. Many have begun to collapse at the cost of lives and property while others have been declared unsafe and are closed to traffic. The highways also are in deteriorating condition. There is a $836 billion backlog of unmet capital needed to fix the highways and bridges the DOT report states.
--Because of crowded highways and rising fuel costs public transit is being used more and more. This mode of transportation is severely underfunded, however. The DOT report estimated a cost of about $90 billion to fix this backlog.
--Congestion in airports has become a big problem. The DOT report notes that 24 of the 30 busiest airports in the US are hitting peak traffic volume at least one day each week. An estimated two million people come through the nation’s airports every day.
--There are over 15,000 dams in need of repair and reinforcement.
--While the freight rail system is in good condition, but passenger rail service is hurting. The report states that nearly a fifth of all passenger rail lines are in “poor condition.” The average age of Amtrak’s rail service, including bridges and tunnels, are 111 years old.
--Century old water and sewer pipes are breaking. It is estimated that there are about two trillion gallons of treated water lost every year.
--Most of the electric transmission and distribution lines were built in the mid-20th Century and they have a life expectancy of about 50 years. Thus they are outdated. There is a current need to replace and update electric lines and power plants and improve the existing grid system that exists throughout the United States.
--We don’t think about it much but there are an estimated 25,000 miles of inland waterways like the Mississippi River are also used for transporting goods. The infrastructure that supports these waterways (dams and locks) also are aging and causing delays.
--The levees along the banks of the great rivers and protecting cities like New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico also are crumbling. Many are not adequate to handle the heavy flow of water from the current bank of storms and rising sea levels sweeping the nation.
--The nation’s ports are desperately in need of improvements to accommodate a fleet of giant new 1.000-foot ships and larger receiving and delivering goods from overseas. These ports also need to be adapted to accommodate a greater number of ships, and dredged to deal with the draft of heavy laden vessels entering and leaving the harbor.
--The Internet, development of wireless service and cell phones have introduced new technologies that must be addressed.
--Local, state and national parks need repairs. They also contain roads, bridges, parking areas, trails and campsites that must be maintained and improved to accommodate more and more visitors.
--Schools and colleges also are demanding improvement. A study of these institutions reveals that at least a quarter of the buildings are in need of improvement or replacement.
--And lastly, the report states that there is a growing need for new wastewater treatment plants to accommodate the growing number of people crowding our cities. There are currently an estimated 15,000 such facilities operating in the United States, and there will be a need for over 500 more of them at a cost of $271 billion by 2032.