American Infrastructure
American Infrastructure-Now or Never
Because of the poor state of the economy the care American infrastructure has been ignored, which poses a danger to everyone that come in contact with it. Recent disasters have reminded many how important the care of American infrastructure is. America’s infrastructure gets a grade of “D” from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which recommends that we spend $2.2 trillion on repairs and maintenance. “Much of America is held together by Scotch tape, bailing wire and prayers,” says director of the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. But with the country no longer swimming but drowning in debt the upkeep of things such as roads and bridges, which we use every day, are easily overlooked. Mike Pagano, an urban planning expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said “We have convinced ourselves that infrastructure is free, that someone else should be paying or that we have paid our share.” One must stop overlooking the problems that one knows exist simply because the consequences are not immediate. “Crumbling infrastructure has a direct impact on our personal and economic health, and the nation’s infrastructure crisis is endangering our nation’s future prosperity,” D. Wayne Klotz.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation more than one in four of America's nearly 600,000 bridges need significant repairs or are burdened with more traffic than they were designed to carry. A third of the country’s major roadways are also in less than standard condition which data from the National Highway Safety Administration finds plays a factor in a third of more than 43,000 traffic fatalities. Along with the Association of State Dam Safety Officials finding that the number of dams that could fail has grown more that 134 percent since 1999 to 3,346 and more than 1,300 of those being “high-hazard” meaning their failure would threaten lives. When a council of 28 civil engineers evaluated 15
Because of the poor state of the economy the care American infrastructure has been ignored, which poses a danger to everyone that come in contact with it. Recent disasters have reminded many how important the care of American infrastructure is. America’s infrastructure gets a grade of “D” from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), which recommends that we spend $2.2 trillion on repairs and maintenance. “Much of America is held together by Scotch tape, bailing wire and prayers,” says director of the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. But with the country no longer swimming but drowning in debt the upkeep of things such as roads and bridges, which we use every day, are easily overlooked. Mike Pagano, an urban planning expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said “We have convinced ourselves that infrastructure is free, that someone else should be paying or that we have paid our share.” One must stop overlooking the problems that one knows exist simply because the consequences are not immediate. “Crumbling infrastructure has a direct impact on our personal and economic health, and the nation’s infrastructure crisis is endangering our nation’s future prosperity,” D. Wayne Klotz.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation more than one in four of America's nearly 600,000 bridges need significant repairs or are burdened with more traffic than they were designed to carry. A third of the country’s major roadways are also in less than standard condition which data from the National Highway Safety Administration finds plays a factor in a third of more than 43,000 traffic fatalities. Along with the Association of State Dam Safety Officials finding that the number of dams that could fail has grown more that 134 percent since 1999 to 3,346 and more than 1,300 of those being “high-hazard” meaning their failure would threaten lives. When a council of 28 civil engineers evaluated 15
Cited: Kelderman, Eric. "The Pew Charitable Trusts." Pew Center on the States. N.p., 16 Jan. 2008 Failure to Act. Rep. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 2011 Report Card. American Society of Civil Engineers, July 2011 "American infrastructure receives 'D ' grade on ASCE report card." Clean Water Report 4 Feb. 2009: 2 "Infrastructure, Infrastructure." Transport Topics.3967 (2011): 6-. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web