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Introduction: America's Crumbling Infrastructure
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18734 |
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Section : |
SPECIAL SECTION
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Date : |
8 / 1991 |
1,029 Words |
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Commonly known as infrastructure and relied on by millions of Americans daily, the nation's rapidly decaying facilities include highways, bridges, railroads, airports, water distribution and supply systems, and solid and hazardous waste treatment plants.
How bad is it? More than 50 percent of the paved highways in the United States need some form of surface rehabilitation.
Highway congestion, already serious in many areas, will become increasingly intolerable as the total number of annual miles traveled on U.S. roads increases by one-third over the next decade.
By the year 2005, traffic delays caused by inadequate roads will cost Americans $50 billion a year in lost wages and wasted gasoline.
More than 40 percent of U.S. bridges over 20 feet long are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Structurally deficient bridges--with their faulty decks, supporting foundations, or superstructures--should not carry traffic but they do. It is not surprising, then, that each year 150 of such bridges buckle, sag, or collapse. According to the Federal Highway Administration, the average lifespan of a bridge is 50 to 75 years. But 30 percent of all American bridges are at least 50 years old, and more than 25,000 bridges currently in use are over 80 years old.
Airports are crowded and congested, and the air-traffic control system needs substantial upgrading to maintain safety. The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that the number of seriously congested airports will soar to 58 by the year 2000, up from 16 in 1986. By the turn of the century the congestion will affect 74 percent of passengers, compared with 39 percent in 1986.
Water storage and distribution systems are deteriorating in older cities like New York, Newark, Cleveland, and Boston. In a recent two-year period, 34 cities suffered an average of 229 watermain breaks per 1,000 miles of main. Additionally, leaky pipes cause major cities to lose as much as 30 percent of their daily water supply.
Public works are expensive to repair. The Associated General Contractors of America put the cost of infrastructure needs at $3.3 trillion, including $1.6 trillion for highways; $53 billion for bridges; and $142 billion for water
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