Sean Cooper has an interesting Tablet piece on the poor state of US infrastructure.
America on Fire
Across the United States, critical infrastructure is breaking down and blowing up in plumes of toxic smoke
Last year the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh collapsed hours before a planned visit by President Joe Biden; he was scheduled to give a speech addressing America’s infrastructure. About an hour’s drive northwest of Pittsburgh sits East Palestine, Ohio, where a train carrying hazardous materials derailed earlier this month, leading to the town’s evacuation and causing a public health crisis that has yet to be resolved. The two incidents, one year and roughly 50 miles apart, are not disconnected: They point to a widespread rot afflicting America’s transportation networks, public schools, health care facilities, energy grid, and other critical infrastructure that is already causing dangerous failures like the ones in Pittsburgh and East Palestine, and which appears likely to get worse before it gets better.
Because your electricity might not stay on long enough to reach the end of an article of any greater length, here is a brief survey of the current crisis afflicting America’s critical infrastructure.
Cooper goes on to discuss US infrastructure under a number of headings. The whole piece is worth reading as a reminder that what we build we have to maintain. Something frequently forgotten by the chattering classes. Here in the UK we need more MPs who understand something about maintenance. Recognising some of the basics would be a start, such as roads pockmarked with potholes.
Much is made of the collapse of trust in America’s public institutions like Congress and the press, but the country’s decrepit physical infrastructure seems to be contributing to the larger sense of national brokenness. In 2020, Pew found that national pride had dipped to a record low, with 21% of Americans either “only a little proud” or “not at all proud” to be an American.
Maybe national pride is too much to ask for when so many communities are struggling to maintain safe roads and clean drinking water. Last week, Vermont’s chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers took a look at nine categories of the state’s major infrastructure systems before granting an overall grade of a “C.” Mediocre as that might be, the report put Vermont a notch above the national average: a “C-minus.”
9 comments:
I've said on other web sites that new projects (bridges, reactors, ships, roads) are always status enhancing for those involved. Maintenance is boring and unsexy and the first to be cut or reduced when money is tight.
Of course when bridges (for example) eventually fail there's the status enhancing opportunity to build a new one. Just ignore any lives lost or the years of disruption while the new bridge is being built.
"President Joe Biden ... was scheduled to give a speech addressing America’s infrastructure"
He would have said "Hi there Mr Bridge. No I'm not kidding. (Menacing whisper -) America needs more bridges. (Demented shout -) More and bigger bridges." Then he'd have attempted to walk off the platform and got lost.
"Because your electricity might not stay on long enough ... here is a brief survey of the current crisis"
I didn't know that Americans made cheerful plays on words like that. Good for them.
Discovered Joys is, sadly, spot on. Maintenance should be prized as much as design and construction; it is literally conservatism in action, and not just in the obvious sense. It is a way of honouring those who went before us, and passing on the past into the future.
A friend who used to work for the local County Council told me some years ago that the budget for compensating drivers whose vehicles were damaged by potholes was approaching the actual budget for repairing them. No idea if it it's the same today, or even exceeded it.
Potholes reported. Council sends someone out to check them and estimates it will take so many hours to repair them. Council puts out tenders for repair (and often takes lowest bid), and pays company for the hours estimated for the repair. At the end of that period, as they are no longer being paid, company packs up, even if all of the potholes have not been repaired. Council publicises amount of money spent on pothole repair and blames drivers for remaining potholes. Wash, rinse, and repeat.
Penseivat
The best material for repairing roads is there right under our noses, or at least our feet.
Chewing gum. It is the most durable stuff on our pavements.
Seriously though folks, is any research being done on better road construction methods.
And all under road pipes, cables, drains should be banned on new roads. We know why Roman roads lasted so well.They did not put crumbling person holes with associated crumbling pipes, conduits etc. in them or under them.
All drainage grates should be off the road at the side. Other countries have road side or under pavement drains
All this under road stuff is why roads crumble.
Unless the road making / repair industry likes the dependable repeat contracts that our methods bring. Perish the thought.
DJ - "failed bridges" could become a term to describe the vanity replacement phenomenon. It's a stretch, but UK wind power could be seen as a "failed bridge" project. We didn't maintain our electricity generation capacity by building nuclear power stations, but here's a super new green windmill project instead.
dearieme - I'm surprised Joe is allowed on a platform without guard rails these days. I initially assumed the current crisis comment wasn't a play on words, but it probably is.
Sam - it comes across as a social class problem because we maintain historic structures quite well. Maybe a huge increase in blue plaques would make a difference.
Penseivat - it will be an improvement if once a week they send out some of the office staff with a bucket of tarmac.
Doonhamer - I think everyone likes those repeat contracts. Built-in crumble is how it's done, but I like the chewing gum idea.
It's good to see someone write an article like that, that addresses the root of the problem from a facts and science based perspective
Too many people are just assigning loony tunes conspirace theories to everything these days. A bridge falls or a train derails, the Government did it because great reset, or whatever
Bucko - almost refreshing isn't it? It also reminds us how far MPs and the media are from practical matters.
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