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Cold shower time: America does not have a problem building infrastructure. It has a problem maintaining it.
by moomin 4y ago
Cold shower time: America does not have a problem building infrastructure. It has a problem maintaining it.
- andbberger 4y agoamerica also has a problem building
- astrange 4y agoIt can’t build it with any finite budget. https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/why-cant-america-build-trains https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/why-cant-america-build-tra... Though it can’t maintain a lot of it either, but it’s the unsexy suburbs it can’t maintain. https://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme https://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme
- jorblumesea 4y agoMore specifically, funding that maintenance. Federal government is a complete political mess of warring factions, many of which see any public spending as heretical. Local governments can't deficit spend and constituents similarly allergic to tax increases.
- bobthepanda 4y agoAlso, any interstate project is subject to a he-said she-said of who should pay for it. See: DC Metro, the Gateway Tunnel
- echelon 4y agoTell that to the California high speed rail project. Or pretty much every other city's municipal heavy rail. Or municipal broadband.
- nine_k 4y agoMunicipal broadband thrives where it's allowed to be built.
- snuxoll 4y agoThat's what happens with suburban sprawl that runs rampant in America. Property taxes in the majority of the country do not cover maintenance+replacement costs of infrastructure, relying on perpetual growth and debt to keep older roads and utilities from crumbling.
- joe_the_user 4y agoIf cheap tunnels were possible, the cost of maintenance would also be hugely lower. "Maintaining" electrical lines at a given location looks a lot like tearing them down and replacing them.