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The Silent Collapse of America’s Infrastructure
The pipes that unite our country are bursting at the seams.
America’s infrastructure is collapsing. Roads crack, power grids flicker, and water systems fail — and it’s only getting worse.
The first wave of American infrastructure was built in the Roaring Twenties, a period of rapid industrial expansion and unbridled optimism. Roads, bridges, and water systems were designed to last a century, their builders confident in the limitless promise of progress. The second wave came in the post-World War II boom, constructed to sustain a rapidly growing population for 50 years.
Both of those lifecycles have now run their course. Highways built for Model Ts are crumbling under the weight of modern freight. Power plants that fueled America’s golden age of manufacturing are sputtering toward obsolescence. Water pipes, laid when jazz was still a rebellious art form, are bursting under the stress of an aging system and an increasing population.
America’s infrastructure isn’t just old — it’s actively failing.
Unlike previous generations, there is no third wave of grand construction on the horizon. Instead, the nation is trapped in a slow-motion collapse, where every failure accelerates the next. The money isn’t there. The willpower isn’t…
