Infrastructure Problems In America

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

Since the beginning of the United States the American people have been on the move. Public transportation has played a major role in the development of this nation and in bringing its citizens together. In the book “Divided Highways”, author Tom Lewis takes the reader on a journey of the building of the Interstates and the consequences(good and bad) that came from them. Lewis believes that the Interstates are a physical characteristic of America and that it shows “all our glory and our meanness; all our vision and our shortsightedness”(xiv).

Highways made a vast contribution on the geographic landscape of America in a multitude of ways. In the past, roads throughout the United States have been neglected since the rise of railroads. The only existing roads that were located outside the cities were farm-to-market roads, which were unpaved, poorly marked. During this time, specifically during the 1910s, automobiles were highly expensive and only bought by the rich. As time continued, automobiles prices began to decrease, which resulted in an increase the amount of cars bought. With a larger quantity of the population owning cars, highways had to be reconstructed. The rebuilding of highways affected the United States because it resulted in society’s ability to travel vast distances

America made a multibillion dollar investment when the Federal Highway Act of 1956 was signed into law by Dwight Eisenhower. This was a milestone for America, connecting the nation like it had never been before. Since this time, however, the United States has done very little in terms of infrastructure investment. Currently, the American Society of Civil Engineers ranks America’s infrastructure as a D + (2013). American no longer leads the world in the best roads, airports, rail, or bridges. This is a serious problem that will lead to security, environmental, economic, and political issues if not addressed fully and swiftly. America needs to act promptly to revive the nation’s infrastructure system before additional nations surpass the US while the cost becomes too big to bear.

Kroft, Steve “Falling Apart: America’s Neglected Infrastructure.” Reporter Interview. 23 Nov. 2014 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

United States’ national infrastructure are resources that are vital to keep commerce operating. Technology have allowed the governments and the private sector to share vital information with them. The nation well-being depend on each of the critical infrastructures, the big question is on how to maintain all of our infrastructure sectors operative without any problem. There a big wave of threats to our nation and if one of this threads go through, it can created a multidimensional problem to the infrastructure system of the country. The main concerns that exist in protecting the U.S. against any attacks to any U.S. infrastructure and in the same time on how to have a system that work well with other agencies. For example; is important to

People have wondered what it's like to be part of the huge tourist population that come from all over the world just to visit the big, beautiful city of London. Well it turns out that London is actually very similar to New York City right here in the United States.

In 2007, the city of Minneapolis the highway I-35 bridge that made out of steel had collapsed. It has become terrors for the communities and cause all of the roads to be closed due to constructions. For example, every week construction workers will build the roads. To clear traffic, construction workers will close the road so only they can use it. On highway 94 coming from Maple Grove to Brooklyn Center is always pack with many cars. I lived in Brooklyn Center the easiest

Cars have been prevalent in United States for years. However transit ridership has increased by 40% since the late 1990s. Apparently there is a "latent demand for new transit unit users a common unknown unknown in the transit industry" (Krizek, El-Geneidy 73). But the nation devotes most of our transportation

Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers releases a Report card that examines the condition and performance of the U.S.’s infrastructure in the familiar form of a school report card by assigning letter grades to each type of infrastructure. The ASCE defines infrastructures as basic physical and

Suburbanization created a decline in the way of traveling by foot. With cul-de-sacs and rounded streets, there has been a decline in walking. Instead of walking straight to where you need to go, there are loops and streets that make the travel distance longer. Solnit gave the example given by Philip Langdon “in order to reach destination only a quarter mile away as the crow flies, the traveler must walk or drive more than a mile, ”(56). It has become almost a first instinct to drive places rather than walk. By making space for automobiles to run and be apart of our lives, we may have forgotten about transportation afoot.

According to a 2011 Brookings Institute Study, the average American city dweller can only reach about 30 percent of the jobs in their region via public transit in less than 90 minutes. That is a clear indicator that the current US public transit system is inefficient. A lot of people can’t afford cars, or prefer not to have one. In cities like London, and Tokyo that wouldn’t be an issue as they

In the current economic environment where interest rates are low and unemployment remains elevated, a logical solution to stimulate growth would be to build, modernize, or replace our infrastructure. Every 4 years, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) releases a Report Card for America’s Infrastructure that represents the condition and performance of the nation’s infrastructure. In 2013, the United States’ infrastructure grade was a D+. Although we recognize the report is a little self-serving, the statistics behind their research is compelling. According to the report: the average age of the 84,000 dams in the country is 52 years old, one in nine of the nation’s bridges are rated

As lightly mentioned before the effects of aging infrastructure proves to be unethical in many ways. It proves to have effects on quality of life, the safety of citizens, and America’s economic well-being. The number one goal of engineers should be to protect the safety, health, and welfare of the public; but one could ask that with these results that we face, is this really being accomplished? By “seeing virtually all infrastructure categories receiving mediocre and poor grades in the C and D range since the late 1990s, [we] cannot help but wonder why our nation has not redoubled its efforts to improve our roads and bridges and by implication the rest of our infrastructure over that period” (Petroski, 2016, pg. 25). Infrastructure is facing severe damage due to the lack of attention America has given it. Unaddressed issues lead to the deficiency of infrastructure and, at a certain point, danger ensues (St. Martin, 2017). Roadways are littered with potholes that interrupt traffic and cause serious injury to vehicles; conditions have become so deteriorated that the frequency of accidents increases as their status gets worse. Bridges carry heavy loads for decades and receive no maintenance, resulting in fatigue and cracking that lead is likely to lead to ultimate failure. Infrastructure, in cases like these, can be counterproductive because of the hazards they pose to the population as they don’t function properly” (Petroski, 2016, pg. 18).

Only 50% of the roads are paved, even the paved length has inadequate design standards. The current state of our nation’s transportation infrastructure is inadequate, and many state and city municipalities do not have the funds to rehabilitate their road networks to improve them to an acceptable level. National Highways Authority of India has prepared plans involving an outlay of Rs. 2,20,000 crores under National Highways Development Program (NHDP) and 10,000 km of expressways at a cost of Rs 1,00,000 crores are being planned in order to develop the road infrastructure and to boost the economy in India. The eleventh plan investment in roads and bridges is about Rs 2, 78,658 crores which is about 13.57 % of total outlay.