America's Dying Infrastructure

Khiem Ly

Robertson

EH 101

December 7, 2015

Word Count

America’s Dying Infrastructure
If America’s infrastructure is not kept up to par, it can cause harm, even cause death. When people hear the word infrastructure, buildings come to thought first. Infrastructure is more than that. Infrastructure is the organization and physics of structures and facilities that is needed for the operation of society. It’s past the buildings, it’s deeper. It goes to the unsound structures, the tarnished steel of bridges, the cracked concrete of roads. This is what makes up our framework. America was given a grade “D+” for the wellness of its infrastructure. This grade is not just a measurement, it shows how the implemented base of America is failing and
The advancement of infrastructure can make roads safer and more efficient for traffic. This can also save many lives in the future. We’ve lost a total of 33,561 lives due to dangerous roads. 33,561 lives that could have been saved with the enhancement of roads. We are currently losing $124 billion dollars a year due to traffic congestion. (Guerini) You would think Americans are the only ones paying the price and time for traffic congestion, but the environment does also. Congestion in urban areas have caused the purchase of an 2.9 billion dollars in fuel, leading to 56 billions pounds of unnecessary carbon dioxide to enter earth’s atmosphere. (Werbach) We’d be saving our planet with the improvement of our roads! The preservation of these roads can save much hassle in the future. Billions of dollars and so much hassle can be saved. Everyone is tired of road construction and having to be rerouted to avoid this construction of a building, bridge, or road. The average American spends an average of 38 hours per year in traffic. (Werbach) Construction of infrastructure needs to improve. America is long overdue for a renewal of roads, bridges, dams, and buildings. As mentioned in an article by Ethan Huff on naturalnews.com, 6,000 dams are considered to be at fault, which
The economy would be stimulated along with the enhancement of businesses. The average citizen would be safer, along with less time being spent in traffic, or construction. The environment would be cleaner, and there would be less pollution in the earth’s atmosphere with improvement to roads. There are plenty of resources and ideas to fix everything, but there isn’t much time. We need to act, and make a difference. Our future generation will be safer due to the soundness of design of roads and bridges. The environment will be cleaner we’ll be taking care of our planet as an end result. The pros definitely outweigh the cons in this