Nation’s Leaders Focus on Infrastructure Investment

Today, three of the nation’s most well regarded leaders, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, will speak about the need to invest in the nation’s decaying infrastructure. The Building America’s Future Coalition is advocating the inclusion of infrastructure investment in both major parties’ platforms, and is looking at infrastructure in terms of provisions that stimulate the economy and improve quality of life, environmental sustainability, and national security.

This timely talk comes as Marisol Bello of USA Today reports on the dangerously shoddy state of the nation’s bridges:

The fatal collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis a year ago jolted states into better inspections of the nation's 600,000 bridges, but they aren't coming up with the billions of dollars needed to ensure that all of them are sound.

The plunge that killed 13 people when the span crumpled into the Mississippi River on Aug. 1 was "a wake-up call" to take care of aging bridges, says Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. "We can't wait for another Minneapolis."

Since the tragedy, Pennsylvania has approved $350 million in bonds to repair 411 bridges. Road tolls will go up next year.

It would cost $9.4 billion a year for 20 years to eliminate all bridge deficiencies in the USA, according to the latest estimate, made in 2005, by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
A USA TODAY review found that beefed-up inspections since the collapse led 16 states to close bridges, reduce weight limits or make immediate repairs.
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Twelve percent of the nation's bridges are structurally deficient, according to the Federal Highway Administration, meaning they are not unsafe but are so deteriorated that they must be closely monitored and inspected or repaired. That percentage has crept down. In 1997, it was 15%.

States are fixing bridges that are in the worst shape, but long-term repairs and upkeep will still suffer unless funding increases, says Kent Harries, a University of Pittsburgh engineering professor.

"We will see more bridge collapses," says Harries, who specializes in bridge engineering.
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States are facing cuts in federal funding next year because of a projected $3.2 billion shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund. The gap is expected to grow because Americans are driving less.

NDN has been a longstanding proponent of investing in infrastructure. Fellow Michael Moynihan published a paper on Investing in Our Common Future: U.S. Infrastructure and NDN recently endorsed the Dodd-Hagel Infrastructure Bank.