modern roads and bridges are designed to decay at the rate they decay, because building in longevity is far more expensive than simply replacing the road surfac

modern roads and bridges are designed to decay at the rate they decay, because building in longevity is far more expensive than simply replacing the road surface or replacing the bridge at the end of its life. what we don't do today is follow through on the maintenance and replacement schedules, in an attempt to save money. we try to repeat our tradeoff after the infrastructure is built, again trading away longevity in favor of money. well, infrastructure decays if you don't maintain it or build it to last longer. skimping on maintenance after you skimped on longevity is trying to eat the cake, and still have it after you've eaten it. it doesn't work that way.