Four Year Joke
It was the joke of the Trump Administration. Talk about the Mueller Investigation – it’s infrastructure week. Talk about child separation at the border – it’s infrastructure week. Congress impeaches the President for trying to blackmail Ukraine – it’s infrastructure week. Congress impeaches the President for sending thousands to “sack” the Capitol – no, we never got to infrastructure week on that one, it was too late!
So now it’s the Biden Administration’s turn at infrastructure week. And sure enough, it was almost derailed by the ongoing issue at the border. (If you foresee the issue, and try to plan for the issue, and are dealing with this issue, is it really a crisis? By determining that the prior administration’s policy was immoral, and taking “the heat” for the increase in kids across the border, I don’t see that as a crisis. It is a problem that needs to be fixed, ASAP).
Falling Bridges
There are more than 47,000 road bridges in the United States that are considered “structurally deficient”. It doesn’t mean they are unsafe, yet. Structurally deficient means they are in need of renovation. By the way, that’s down from 54,000 the year before. But we aren’t fixing bridges – the Federal Highway Administration “weakened” the standards, moving 7,000 bridges out of the category.
Major interstate highway bridges have broken in Chattanooga, Minneapolis, and Cincinnati. But there are other busy bridges that “fall” into the “structurally deficient” category: the Brooklyn Bridge, the Memorial Bridge in Washington, DC, the San Mateo Bridge across the San Francisco Bay, and the Pensacola Bay Bridge. And that’s just about bridges (NPR).
Is that important? Well let’s make it personal. In the past few years, I’ve driven across the Chattanooga bridge that is damaged, and the Brent Spence – I-75 Bridge in Cincinnati that has a hole literally burned through it. I’ve been back and forth over the Memorial Bridge, and the Pensacola Bay Bridge. And I’ve driven the San Mateo Bridge too, high over the back bay waters of the San Francisco. I didn’t know they were on a “list” of deficient bridges. I just drove. I’m sure that’s how the people felt in Minneapolis and Chattanooga as well, right before parts of the bridge gave way.
We assume that the roads we are driving on are solid. It’s not a concern as we cruise around the nation, high over the rivers and old mines in Eastern Ohio, some that have collapsed (not making that up – check out this article about abandoned mines under the I-70/I-77 interchange near Cambridge, FHA).
And roads aren’t the only problem.
Energy Grid
The manmade disaster in Texas last month, when the power infrastructure collapsed from the cold, and the water infrastructure froze, was absolutely avoidable. The Flint water crisis (yep – that’s a real crisis) where children got lead poisoning from the old pipes and “cost saving” chemicals, was avoidable too. Newark, New Jersey and other cities have similar water issues. And these are infrastructure problems that need to be resolved, soon.
It’s the beginning of the third decade of the twenty-first century. And still that are many rural locations in the United States that don’t have high speed data service. That might be an occasional blessing, but when it comes to education, business, and communication in our current day and age, high speed internet and data capability is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity.
Here in Ohio, there are two operating nuclear power plants, one opened in 1977, the other a decade later. That means the “youngest” is thirty-four years old. A nuclear power plant is more than a lifetime commitment, once it becomes operational the fuel and the equipment are radioactive for centuries. Whether they supply Ohio electricity or not, they still need to be cared for. Nationwide there are ninety-six plants that need to be maintained, working or not.
Shape the Future
The future doesn’t just happen. It is planned for and built in the present. We know that the future will require energy sources that don’t destroy the environment. We know it now, and we need to plan for it now. So the United States needs to plan for transportation and energy structures that will use the energies of the future, not depend on energy sources we know we will have to give up. So while building highways (or rebuilding highways) is great – building them with electric vehicle energy sources is critical. And while protecting the energy grid from freezes in Texas, and drought and fire in California, it’s important to recognize that the sources for power can’t depend on coal or petroleum.
And the Biden plan includes things like building for the increasing number of old aged folks who will need care, and school buildings that will need to be replaced. It’s not as “high profile” as roads and bridges, but just as important.
“Infra-structure week” has been a sad joke for the past few years. But this week, this Administration, it’s a chance to build the future. High speed trains will be a part of that future; they’re energy efficient and they are cheaper than flying.
We ought to get on board.
