Shovels in the Ground
America’s Pressing Need for Renewed Infrastructure
It’s everything we walk and talk on, what keeps us warm at night…
Public works are the skeleton of our modern life. Municipal or rural, these are the systems that allow all other areas of our society to function. The roads that transport our goods and allow the public safety response, the sewers that protect our health and property, the wires that bring electricity, or the pipes that deliver our water, public works infrastructure is the foundation for it all.
Every amenity we take for granted in our communities is predicated on the planning, engineering, construction, and maintenance of infrastructure. Parks, trail-ways and enforcement of fire and building codes enhance the safe and healthy enjoyment of our lives, courtesy of current public works practice.
Throughout human history, we have flourished through advancements in public works technologies. From the Roman roads and aqueducts, to the Panama Canal (and eliminating yellow fever through a public works project), through those grand New Deal programs of the 1930’s, public works projects and engineering have defined great civilizations, and always will.
How we got to here…
The first infrastructure projects in the United States were sewerage projects. Diversion of streams and the digging of ditches to address flooding and irrigation issues, and the use of log piping to remove effluent from homes where common by the 1700’s. The first “water pollution” control regulation was enacted by the colony of Massachusetts in 1647. In 1884, one of first lift stations, powered by steam, was installed in Boston.
In the 1850’s, Chicago began construction of a city-wide system of combined sewers that drained to the Chicago River. The project require raising the elevation of large portions of the existing city by 10-15’, to allow for adequate gravity drainage.
As the 19th century began, and the need grew for better ways to transport goods and produce, planning began to develop better networks of roadways. The first federal road project, The National Road, was authorized by Congress in 1806. Route 40 would connect the Mid-Atlantic coast with the Ohio River, and on to the Mississippi, unifying the new nation.
The early 1800's saw a number of waterway projects undertaken. The Erie Canal, proposed in 1807, constructed between 1817 and 1825, was a 393 mile canal route linking the Hudson River to the Great Lakes, provided a portage free route for goods to and from the western interior. Large levee projects along the Mississippi began in the 1850's to stabilize and protect the port areas of St. Louis from flooding and bank erosion.
From the 1830’s to the 1860’s, railroad technologies and construction flourished. With the completion of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific “transcontinental railway” in 1869, the industry and commerce associated with the railroad spurred westward advancement, with towns sprouting up from coast to coast in its’ wake. This new era of rapid transportation lead to the development of the Midwest as the breadbasket of the world.
The appearance of new technologies in the 1800’s expanded the realm of public works. Gas lighting and heating required underground piping, and municipalities began granting franchises and right-of-way usage to utilities by the 1870’s. Soon afterwards, electric power and telephone systems came along with their similar needs.
20th century developments allowed for a dramatic increase in the scope of public works abilities. Large hydroelectric projects, a national energy grid, the nationwide system of highways allowing the growth of an entire automotive industry, and the lives saved through the development of code enforcement systems are a result.
If it can’t move, it won’t sell…
Public works have always fueled economic growth. The canal and railroad projects of the 19th century were the framework of a coast to coast industrial power ready to take on the global challenges of the next century.
After the wars of the early 20th century, the Interstate Highway system opened up a housing boom, creating suburbs overnight and fueling the rise of the automobile industry. The commute was now possible, due to the low cost of fuel and the freeway into town. Supermarkets and strip malls now littered the thoroughfare streets linking the subdivisions to the freeways, allowing easy access to consumer goods.
The cost of the Interstate Highway system as authorized by National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 was approximately $364 billion dollars. The economic return for this investment has been in the trillions of dollars.
It happens…we all get older…
Many of the large scale public infrastructure systems in the United States are based on 19th century technologies. The actual installation of the systems, in many metropolitan and remote rural areas dates from the 1890’s to the 1940’s. Most of our electrical power is still conveyed by overhead wire, expensive to maintain, unsightly and unreliable- an expensive impediment to the development of a “smart grid”, necessary for a sustainable energy future.
The economic costs of our outdated and decaying surface transportation, our roads, railroads, bridges and urban transit systems is estimated at $129 billion, according to a 2012 study by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The study also finds that road decay costs the US $97 billion in operation costs for our vehicles (repairs and extra fuel costs), as well as a loss of $32 billion annually in delays resulting from roadways insufficient to handle the traffic volumes.
“If investments in surface transportation infrastructure are not made soon, these costs are expected to grow exponentially,” the ASCE said. “Within 10 years, US businesses would pay an added $430 billion in transportation costs, household incomes would fall by more than $7,000, and U.S. exports will fall by $28 billion.”
States are hard-pressed to maintain the 60 year old Interstate Highways they have inherited from the Federal Government. Municipalities, already deeply reduced in resources by the Great Recession and property tax caps, struggle as they face the cost of taking care of the crumbling concrete streets of those 1990s vinyl villages.
Railroads- once nearly relegated to obscurity, are a viable option for freight and for commuting in urban areas due to advances in technology and the rising cost of fuels. They also face extreme maintenance challenges in caring for a nearly 150 year old system.
Bridges-just over 600,000 highway bridges are monitored by the US Transportation Department. Nearly 30% were built in the period from 1955-1968. More than 10,000 hit the half –century mark annually, all in need of serious maintenance or replacement. In 2007, and in 2013, fatal bridge-span collapses in Minnesota and Washington State underscored the lack of available funding for the inspection and maintenance of these crucial links in our transportation network.
Yeah, this sounds like a pretty bad situation, what’s the solution?
Federal spending for infrastructure such as surface transport, school buildings and grounds, hospitals, energy and communications, and utilities has been reduced 86% since 2009. The dollar amounts available from the federal government are lower than the dollar amounts appropriated in 1970 when the nation’s economy was less than half the current size, in adjusted dollars.
This nation needs to be competitive in the new global economy with our 24 hour-a-day business cycle and need for speed and efficiency in transport. Climate change and the high cost of energy dictate that we rapidly transition into a sustainable energy future, with a smart grid and public transportation at the core of the changes. To compete against the emerging nations of the third world, we need to embrace long-term planning and integration of new technologies.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that an additional $14 billion annually is required to just maintain the status-quo in our surface transportation systems. Making needed improvements would require another $50-75 billion over the next 7 years.
Smart grid proposals run closer to $300 billion dollars. That would be after years of political fighting over franchise rights and regional control by vested groups with huge lobbying resources. Wi-Max in all major cities and along all major interstates is another proposal that runs into the $100 billion range. Transition to all LED lighting would save tens of billions in energy costs over the next decade.
All of these have positive economic impacts that will provide jobs and growth. History has shown us time and again, that the main driver of economic growth is infrastructure investment.
The answer is pretty obvious: we need to make a commitment to our infrastructure that will require greatly increased funding. Can we muster the political will to find a way to make this neccessary investment?
