American Transportation Infrastructure Essay

Transportation in the United States has changed dramatically in the past few hundred years, from dirt roads, to canals, to railroads, and back to roads to again. Improvements in transportation between the years 1820 and 1860 allowed for almost all of America to be accessible which caused the US economy to explode. Transportation turned the U.S. into a flourishing economy and caused a large increase in sectionalism, industrialization, and expansion.

Evidence: A study presented by the white house on its website reported that 65% of roads rated in less than good condition. 25% of bridges require significant repair or cannot handle today's traffic. Also because certain roads cannot be used there is more traffic. The Texas Transportation Institute estimates that American commuters in urban areas collectively lost 5.5 billion hours stuck in traffic in 2011, meaning the average commuter lost nearly a week to traffic. their calculations further suggest that traffic congestion caused American commuters to purchase an extra 2.9 billion gallons of fuel, costing them more than $120 billion in added fuel costs and wasted time.

While the Federal-Aid Highway act of 1956 created the U.S. Interstate system and brought a nation together, the Federal-Aid Highway act of 1973 would later create division in federal and state political parties over future funding concerns. In the short run, President Nixon considered this act as a positive step for transportation and the economy. However, in the long run, this act led to the eroding of HTF’s, leaving both state and federal government debating over how to proceed in funding a transportation infrastructure that is at present time slowly crumbling. Political differences between federal and state agencies have brought the modernization process of the transportation infrastructure to a snail’s pace. In addition, the lengthy

Despite the tremendous economic success in Texas and its overall well-being, the state continues to face its nonstandard set of challenges that must be addressed immediately. Certainly, the most pressing issue is a deteriorating transportation infrastructure, which requires innovation, long-range planning and, of course, investment (Button & Reggiani, 2011). The following study focuses on the deteriorating transportation infrastructure as a major issue facing the state of Texas. The report will also discuss the positions of two major Texas political parties (Republican and Democratic) on the issue. It further explains the ways of their addressing it. Next, it will discuss the overall goals, the position, the level of lobbying and the

In the early 1900s, the United States of America would see the introduction of a piece of technology that would change the way we as a society would look at travel. Henry Ford began production of Model T, the vehicle soon found its way into many American homes. By 1927, the Ford Motor Company had sold nearly 15 million of the mass produced, affordable car. The automobile was no longer a luxury but, a necessity for Americans. During the infancy of the automobile, the roads where nothing more than a mere rutted up path through the country side. Though shortly, people realized the need for better roads. The only problem was, who was going to pay the bill?

According Edmonton’s 2012 budget report, almost all municipalities across Canada face a significant infrastructure deficit. Neighborhood renewal occurred periodically with funding from other orders of government, yet it failed to address the full life-cycle requirements of preventative maintenance, rehabilitation, and reconstruction. Over time, the condition of roads, sidewalks and sewers deteriorated, resulting in more frequent collapsed sewers, increased sidewalk hazards, and dramatically increased maintenance like pothole repairs. The Office of Infrastructure and Funding Strategy highlighted the need for ongoing funding for neighborhood infrastructure to overcome an anticipated $2.2 billion funding gap in neighborhood roads and related infrastructure.

In this detailed report, essential actors such as the Transportation, Natural Resources, and California Environmental Protection Agency provide ongoing projects they are developing which collectively helps California attain an improved infrastructure plan. In recent events, Californians passed Measure M in 2016 by a 71.5% margin which will serve as sales tax to “improver freeway traffic flow/safety; repair potholes/sidewalks; repave local streets”(Metro). An unpopular decision that has affected commuters was the recent gas tax signed into effect by governor Jerry Brown on November 1st 2017. This increase in tax , formerly known as the Senate 1 Bill, increased gasoline prices by 12 cents to help fund the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of the California Highway Patrol. Over the course of a decade, this legislative package aims to collects $54 Billion to fix roads, freeways and bridges. In terms of distribution, $200,000,000 of the funds will go into road maintenance, $100,000,000 of the funds will go to the Active Transportation Program, and $400,000 of the funds will go to maintenance and rehabilitation (State of California

You might have heard recently that the United States Trust Fund is currently experiencing a solvency issue due to an increased cost associated with financing road projects. The members of the United States Congress, as well as numerous other influential leaders, have been discussing means of addressing this “broken” Highway Trust Fund. This issue has been consistently thrown on the back burner for some time and due to this procrastination an issue that would have been an easy fix a few years ago has now ballooned into a much larger issue. Lately it seems like every time I turn on the news I have seen news reports of bridges collapsing and pot holes getting worse, it scary to think that I will one day have children driving on these roads if

Every family, every community, and every business needs infrastructure to thrive (ASCE). It is evident that we are dependent on our nation’s infrastructure, but as Andrew Soergel, an economy reporter at U.S. News states, “We need to stop talking about infrastructure as simply an engineering prospect and more as an economic one.” He’s right as infrastructure projects currently make up a vast part of our economy, nearly 11 percent of the American workforce today is employed directly in infrastructure sectors (USNEWS). In a report on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Congressional Budget Office wrote that, “Spending on infrastructure created the second-most economic activity for each dollar spent.” This power comes from the strong economic activity that is generated by the direct hiring of workers to build the needed infrastructure, as well as the boost from the increased spending of those newly hired workers. National Editor of Forbes magazine Robert Lenzner estimates that long-term infrastructure investment programs are bound to create 23,000 jobs for every $1 billion of investment. This will help lower unemployment and raise GDP. The long-term health of the economy is also helped by strong public infrastructure because it helps to boost the productivity of workers and businesses in the private sector. Well-maintained roads, for example, allow

II. CAUSES: As a functioning asset to people, our roadways must be monitored, maintained and most importantly funded to keep the structures serving their intended uses safely. Also, we all know the adage, nothing lasts forever, and this is true with our roadways, but our society’s pollution accelerates the decay. And these are two main causes where we, as a nation have fallen short.

     Everything is bigger in Texas. That’s what a lot of Texans what Americans and people around the world to know – you don’t mess with Texas. In the 1950’s, when President Eisenhower created the first Interstate plan for the country and implemented new roads in almost every single state, it was the largest engineering feat in the modern world. Now, almost half a century later, Governor Rick Perry is set to break that record, with the costliest, largest, and most incredible-sized proportion Texas Trans-Corridor, dubbed the “Texas Superhighway,” a 4000 mile, $175 billion dollar project that won’t be completely functional for another fifty years (Perry). This project certainly

The California High-Speed Rail is a high-speed rail system currently under construction in California and is a bad idea for the state. During the November election in 2008, Californians were asked to approve a $45 billion bullet train. Proposition 1A passed, but just barely. Since then just about everything the voters were promised in 2008 about the rail system has changed. With a $45 billion price tag, and with far from an overwhelming mandate at 52% of the votes, this project is far from being built. The first phase of the system could be completed by 2029, provided that additional funds are obtained. Phase 2 (which has no timetable yet) was originally planned to extend the system northerly in the Central Valley to the Sacramento Valley Station in Sacramento, and southerly (through the Inland Empire) to the San Diego International Airport in San Diego. That too has changed, Sacramento and San Diego are now not even mentioned in future planning.

This interview will provide a firsthand look from Ray LaHood who was the secretary of transportation during the first Obama administration. This looks at the political views and constraints around rebuilding roads and bridges. There are around 70,000 bridges and thousands of miles of roadways that need repair. One of the main issues is, politicians do not want to spend

Along with hover boards and flying cars, high-speed rail is one of the most iconic futuristic technologies discussed today. With great success, European and Asian countries such as Germany, France, Japan and China have been enjoying bullet trains for decades. Japan has been a leading innovator of high-speed trains, and has currently developed a train capable of 315 mph (Shadbolt). This MagLev is revolutionizing public transport and changing how the world view trains forever. The average European high-speed train can travel at speeds in excess of 220 mph (“The 10”). The United States is falling behind in this highly efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly high-speed train race. With the amount of traffic congestion between

Public transportation is serious need of a massive overhaul in this nation. We are in desperate need to catch up to the European standard of public transportation in this country. In Europe, citizens can travel across cities, bodies of water, and even counties with their state of the art public transportation system. Europeans are not nearly as reliant on cars and oil as the United States is because they have the much more practical option of taking the transportation provided to them by the government to where ever they need to go. They have set a model that the United States needs to strive for and meet in the near future.