Infrastructural Problems

Infrastructure doesn't espouse the same kind of emotions that other issues in our political lexicon do. It's certainly not like abortion, an issue where everyone knows they're right. But the United States has a massive infrastructure problem, and fixing it will be a gargantuan task for a country that can barely stand taking baby steps.

Here's the current data. It's going to take $225 billion a year for decades to ensure there isn't gridlock on our nation's highways. Other estimates say that number is closer to $450 billion a year for decades just to keep our roads as they are now. And how they are now is is atrocious. According to Infrastructure.org, an infrastructure rating organization, our roads received a "D-minus Rating," and our infrastructure itself got a "D Rating." Even more troubling, the site claims the United States should invest $2.2 trillion-with-a-t over the next five years just to stay afloat.

But our roads aren't the only things that are old; our sewers need repair, too. A federal government estimate claims that we need to spend $300-$500 billion a year to fix our sewers over the next twenty years. But how much money did the country allocate to fixing sewers in 2008? $687 million.

I could go on and on. But you get the idea, and those who were in DC for the power outages don't need further reminders of how bad things can get (neither do those in India, for that matter).

Here's where I get worried. Remember President Obama's stimulus bill in 2009? Remember all the political turmoil it caused? And all that over just (relatively speaking, in terms of the problems we face) $787 billion. If we fought a bitter political war over $787 billion, then how are we possibly going to foot the bill to fix our infrastructure? It's already starting not to look good, as just this past June Congress failed to pass a long-term highway funding bill.

To cap it all off, Robert Yaro of the Regional Plan Association said that if we don't act soon (a wonderfully ambiguous timeframe), the United States will "have the infrastructure of a Third World country within a few decades." I have been to the Third World, and I would rather not drive slowly on the highway just so my suspension doesn't break falling into potholes.

We have an infrastructure problem in this country. Until we fix it, everyone can see our cracks.