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Is there a widespread lack of funding for bridges and roads infrastructure in the US? The bridges and roads around me in middle TN are well maintained. These

Is there a widespread lack of funding for bridges and roads infrastructure in the US? The bridges and roads around me in middle TN are well maintained. These are funded by local government resources, right?

smcl 7y ago
Yep, this has been pretty widely reported, in fact when I was looking for an article that covered this the first one I found (from April this year) talked about a bridge in TN which collapsed: https://www.npr.org/2019/04/05/710364158/report-finds-more-than-47-000-structurally-deficient-bridges-in-the-u-s https://www.npr.org/2019/04/05/710364158/report-finds-more-t...
Tuna-Fish 7y ago
The reason there were such problems in this area until recently was congressional earmarks. When people lobbied for their representatives to support their pet cause, traditionally the best way they had to do this was to issue an earmark as part of some bill. Earmarks are not heavily fought by other representative because they do not give federal money to a state, rather they are the federal government forcing a state to spend some of their own money on something they wouldn't otherwise have done. The problem with this is that unless the local government decides to overbudget for this and run a surplus every year, this money comes from somewhere. Typically something boring that people don't care about, like infrastructure maintenance. That is, people don't care about it until it starts to actually fail... Then congressional earmarks got banned. Only, things are actually worse now, because it turns out the political horse trading around earmarks was the only reason representatives have to compromise across party lines, instead of always holding a hard line on the issues their supporters want. This is the direct cause of the current political gridlock.
hanniabu 7y ago
Yes, lack of funding plus poor planning. In my town it seems that every time a road is newly paved, 2 months later they're tearing it up to do some utility work, then after a single winter season it's back to how it was with potholes everywhere.
notacoward 7y ago
> Is there a widespread lack of funding for bridges and roads infrastructure in the US? Yes. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/more-50-000-american-bridges-are-falling-apart-n842356 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/more-50-000-american-br... https://www.statista.com/chart/12737/thousands-of-american-bridges-are-falling-apart/ https://www.statista.com/chart/12737/thousands-of-american-b... Generally towns and states rely on federal funding for a significant part of road and bridge maintenance. Generally, they've been falling behind. Most states have long lists of bridges that they know are not really safe to drive on any more.

smcl 7y ago

Yep, this has been pretty widely reported, in fact when I was looking for an article that covered this the first one I found (from April this year) talked about a bridge in TN which collapsed: https://www.npr.org/2019/04/05/710364158/report-finds-more-than-47-000-structurally-deficient-bridges-in-the-u-s https://www.npr.org/2019/04/05/710364158/report-finds-more-t...

Tuna-Fish 7y ago

The reason there were such problems in this area until recently was congressional earmarks. When people lobbied for their representatives to support their pet cause, traditionally the best way they had to do this was to issue an earmark as part of some bill. Earmarks are not heavily fought by other representative because they do not give federal money to a state, rather they are the federal government forcing a state to spend some of their own money on something they wouldn't otherwise have done. The problem with this is that unless the local government decides to overbudget for this and run a surplus every year, this money comes from somewhere. Typically something boring that people don't care about, like infrastructure maintenance. That is, people don't care about it until it starts to actually fail... Then congressional earmarks got banned. Only, things are actually worse now, because it turns out the political horse trading around earmarks was the only reason representatives have to compromise across party lines, instead of always holding a hard line on the issues their supporters want. This is the direct cause of the current political gridlock.

hanniabu 7y ago

Yes, lack of funding plus poor planning. In my town it seems that every time a road is newly paved, 2 months later they're tearing it up to do some utility work, then after a single winter season it's back to how it was with potholes everywhere.

notacoward 7y ago

> Is there a widespread lack of funding for bridges and roads infrastructure in the US? Yes. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/more-50-000-american-bridges-are-falling-apart-n842356 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/more-50-000-american-br... https://www.statista.com/chart/12737/thousands-of-american-bridges-are-falling-apart/ https://www.statista.com/chart/12737/thousands-of-american-b... Generally towns and states rely on federal funding for a significant part of road and bridge maintenance. Generally, they've been falling behind. Most states have long lists of bridges that they know are not really safe to drive on any more.