Construction Industry and the Crumbling US Infrastructure Upgrades Needed – A Think Tank Topic

When President Bush and the Congress passed a 10-year Department of Transportation funding to improve our roads and highways, along with the infrastructure which was overdue, everyone applauded. It is paramount that we keep everything Inspiring Gardens in working order. Consider if you will our transmission power lines, our dams, and our rail lines, or our highways and freeways, sewer treatment plants, our airports, and our ports. That is a lot of infrastructure to take care of.
Perhaps this is why the topic came up about our crumbling infrastructure in America and the upgrades we need at a recent online think tank e-mail discussion. Below are some of my thoughts on the matter;
We seem to have a real problem in the US as we have bridges which are getting old and unsafe, and the number of dams in the US deemed unsafe is completely alarming, it’s one disaster after another just waiting to occur. Our road ways, rail lines, ports, airports, all need an increase in monies and upgrades.
These priorities are critical, and critical infrastructure upgrades are way overdue. Municipalities have lots of challenges ahead, but no money. State governments well, they are bogged down like cities with pension obligations, costs, and they too have massive needs for upgrades. The Federal Highway system could use $700 Billion right now, not to mention the power lines another $800 Billion minimum. Water infrastructure, desalination plants, etc, is beyond the point of no return now, it’s in crisis mode.
This year has been a wet year, good snow fall, good water supply, five years from now we will be back in drought mode, only much worse, than last time, as now even minor droughts become a huge problem. The Obama administration Landscape Garden Images has set forth billions of dollars as part of the stimulus package for shovel ready jobs up and beyond the amount of money already previously allotted by the Bush administration for Department of Transportation funding.
This proposed money was supposed to kill multiple birds with one stone; namely, provide shovel ready jobs, which it didn’t seem to do, put additional funds into the economy, and we know now that very little of that was spent, and fix the infrastructure that is starting to crumble. There were some serious projects slated, several dams, many bridges, and fixing of some of our highways.
Money was given to municipalities and states to fix potholes, and there was even some money for high-speed rail. As you know none of this occurred, well very little anyway. Now we are being told by the current administration; it’s the thought that counts. No it’s not, it’s performance that counts, and I hope you will please consider this.