Posted on 01/28/2009 6:27:47 AM PST by presidio9
America's roads, public transit and aviation have gotten worse in the past four years. Water and sewage systems are dreadful. The basic physical backbone of American society is barely above failing, a report by top engineers says.
It'll cost $2.2 trillion to fix America's ailing infrastructure, according to highlights of a report being released early, just as the House of Representatives readies its first vote on President Barack Obama's call for a massive economic stimulus spending package.
The country's roads, dumps, dams, bridges, schools and rail systems need lots of that money, say the engineers, who would get a piece of the pie in working on the repairs. Government officials are already aiming billions of dollars at those physical needs as part of what at the moment is a $825 billion economic stimulus package. But the engineers say that's not enough.
Overall, the American Society of Civil Engineers gives the U.S. physical backbone for everything from schools and parks to dams and levees a D. That's the same overall grade as the last time the group gave a report, in 2005, but it really is slipping from a "high D" to a "low D," said report chairman Andrew Herrmann.
Herrmann, an engineer with the New York firm Hardesty & Hanover, said his group is issuing the highlights of the report — the full document won't be out until late March — "to be relevant ... investing in our infrastructure will create jobs."
Of the 15 areas the engineers looked at, three got worse and only one got better. The three that worsened were all transportation oriented: aviation dropped from a D+ to a D; so did public transit; and America's intricate roadway system
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Shovels ready, boys and girls ?
Gee, a bunch of engineers recommending massive infusion of funds into infrastructure; will wonders never cease?
I’m afraid I’m going to need a second, third and tenth opinion from groups that don’t stand to gain from taking my money from me.
Why do we need to fix the roads? With the auto bailout we should all be driving SUVs by now.
“The country’s roads, dumps, dams, bridges, schools and rail systems need lots of that money, say the engineers, who would get a piece of the pie in working on the repairs. Government officials are already aiming billions of dollars at those physical needs as part of what at the moment is a $825 billion economic stimulus”
Wonderful.....engineering jobs for H1B visa holders and labor jobs for a whole new generation of illegal immigrants.
After all, like one famous government leader said,
“Infrastructure spending is an important and good way to spur the economy. I am concerned; as I’m sure many of you are that these jobs simply not go to high skill workers who are already professionals or white male construction workers.”
Yeah. Especially for engineers.
What good are roads if cars are going to be unavailable? Hmm, they collapsed in only four years? I guess that Union Labor SUCKED!
Where did all our tax dolaars go. In PA they leveled a really big tax on Gas that was suppost to go to raods, but PA roads arelike the Ho Chi Minh Trail after a ARC light mission.
PENNDOT tried telling people that it is because of the bad winters. I guess PA is the only state that has winters.
The dems have been in control of the purse strings during the majority of this 4 year period...proof they shouldn't have control of anything.
Hate to be Captain Obvious here, but this type of spending is one of the Constitutional purposes of the Fed Govt (interstate commerce). But sort of hard to spend trillions of $ on this when the Fed Govt is blowing those $ instead on propping up mismanaged private corporations.
And exactly how much of the money in the currently proposed stimulus plan by the One would go to fixing these infrastructure problems, real as they are compared to such things as creating a “community organizing” equivalent of the Hitler youth?
Sounds like some sort of fraud and someone should be punished.. This level of theft makes Bernie look like a school kid.
Sorry - Acorn gets the money.
Along with PBS and every other leftist earmark, pork project and socialist front group.
If any money goes for shovels they will be just used to lean on.
So if I read this correctly, engineers are saying that the engineering community should get billions of dollars. And in other news, foxes decry use of locks on henhouses.
Strange, I can still drive on the roads, the water runs in my sink, and the toilet flushes. I wonder where the problem is.
As a mechanical engineer, I always described civil engineers as those that “talk nice”. These don’t seem to fit that description. Sounds more like a “gimmee” plea to me.
If our infrastructure rates a “D”, I’d sure like to know what an “A” is.
And if these clowns advocate more money for “public transit”, I wouldn’t trust ANYTHING else they said, period. Here in Houston we have pissed away many millions on that pipe dream, and have nothing to show for it but a stupid toy train that blocks traffic and has had a hundred or so wrecks.
Utter waste.
"According to the latest figures from the Federal Highway Administration, motorists gave state and local government $40.3 billion in 2005 for the ability to drive and own a vehicle. Gasoline taxes accounted for $20.5 billion in revenue while registration fees and miscellaneous taxes generated $13.5 billion. State and local toll roads also collected $6.4 billion from motorists.
After accounting for administration and overhead, $28.5 billion remained for all fifty states to spend in 2005. Of this amount, only $13 billion was spent on state and local road construction and maintenance.
A total of $8.9 billion of motorists' money was diverted into unrelated uses. A total of $1.4 billion went to mass transit and $7.5 billion was used for social spending. The remaining amount went to related uses such as paying down transportation debt and funding highway law enforcement. "
I also would condemn our nations electrical grid as absolutely antediluvian, outdated, derated, and in need of complete replacement. The fact that I’m an electrical engineer for an electrical contractor that does about a billion dollars of government work a year has nothing to do with it.
source AP = don’t bother reading propaganda.
The American Society of Civil Engineers funds a powerful lobby group in Washington. Their literature is full of great accomplishments, yet they rate their works a D? I wonder how the idea that ploughing billions into roads, bridges, tunnels, and canals so that we can continue to drive CO2 emitting vehicles will fare with the greenies saving the planet? Will O wring his hands?
Question; Where in hell are all of the gas taxes going?
I live in the Charlotte area of NC and most of the roads here are not as good as they are in some third world countries.
i’m sure most of the money will go to floundering blue state governors like calif, ny, nj etc both for their road projects & to bail out their deficits
my state of Texas will see very little i promise you
Government unions did pay to play, they are owed. And we can all ‘hope’ our roads will be paved in gold, maybe even a few diamonds sprinkled along the way.
My request would be that the engineers engineering these ‘public’ works projects are able to figure out a way to stop having to fix the very same pot holes year in and year out. Most especially right before elections.
Hi fellow ME FRiend.
Get into public projects for a piece of O's civil pie. All your tax money are belong to us!
I feel bad licking my lips like a filthy banker but at least we'll have some projects to show for it and we didn't collapse the economy with ponzi schemes and go begging for more. The bankers will way get far more money for bonuses and for giving mortgages to idiots.
WPA, here we come.
Pigs in the trough.
Civil Engineers think that massive amounts of money should be poured into Civil Engineering projects. Big surprise, that...
Maybe since the government is going to be spending so much money and producing so much work for Civil Engineers, it should make the investments necessary to out-source the work to low-paid Civil Engineers in India and Bangladesh...
I wonder what grade these guys would give to our infrastructure if they knew they would not be in line for a big slice of the pie... After all, if our Civil Engineers have made such a bollox of the existing system, why should we trust them to come up with the solution?
“PA roads arelike the Ho Chi Minh Trail after a ARC light mission.”
To those reading from other states, this description is NOT an exaggeration!
In all seriousness, I would not want to be responsible for all the legwork of laying a transmission line in the current envirofruit administration. I love how people complain about brownouts and blackouts and how they are failures of the industry, while the same people squeal like pigs under a gate when you try to expand an transmission line or build trusses for new ones.
Certainly, its just good (very good) business.
But shouldn't the electrical utilities pay for these upgrades? They are the ones that stand to profit from the upgrade. I work for a large telecom provider that has spent and is spending multiple billions $US to upgrade our distribution. Where's the difference?
The idea that the fed has to insert themselves into every business in the US is troubling.
We've seen what an outstanding job they've done w/ the mortgage industry why not allow them to nationalize the banks, automobile manufacturing and electrical distribution as well?
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