The state of Infrastructure in America is slowly crumbling 47,000 bridges are rated in need of critical repair.
Trump and Congress need to fix this.
More than 47,000 bridges in the United States are in crucial need of repairs, says the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, or ARTBA. The group, which advocates for investment in transportation infrastructure, analyzes data from the Federal Highway Administration and releases an annual Deficient Bridge report.
According to a report from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the US economy will lose around $4 trillion in GDP between 2016 and 2025 if investment is not forthcoming. If the country’s aging roads, railways and bridges are left to decay even further, that could rise to $14 trillion by 2040. Likewise, business sales will also take a substantial hit. The report forecasts that left unchecked, poor infrastructure will result in business sales losing $7 trillion by 2025 and $29.3 trillion by 2040. American household income will also feel the impact.
Ramp up the use of road tolling and increase tolls and gas taxes to raise the necessary revenue.
At the same time, take certain routes OFF the national list.
That involves decommissioning or partially decommissioning a number of United States Highways that don’t serve a national purpose anymore.
For example, I would decommission US Route 301 along most of its route, including all of the route in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. I would also decommission that portion of 301 that runs from the North Carolina State line to Exit 45 on Interstate 95 just south of Petersburg. I would retain everything north of that point.
I would also decommission US Route 17 south of Exit 33 on Interstate 95 and north of its junction with US Highway 1 near Fredericksburg, Virginia.
I would decommission numerous other highways as well.
Decommissioning takes these highways off of Federal funding and makes the States totally responsible for them, freeing up limited highway funding for higher priority infrastructure projects.
The Federal money would be used for the Interstate Highway System, the remaining United States Highways that are not decommissioned and bridges that cross navigable rivers.
Federal money thus would be prioritized to more critical routes.
For example, I would leave US Route 1 fully in commission along its entire present length from Key West to Maine.
The highways I propose to take out of commission are those that have been effectively superseded, some for a very long time.
There would still be plenty of United States Highways left in commission, but those would be the ones that retain a national character.
Federal money ends up going into nearly every highway and roadway in the US.
To simply cut states off from those dollars would really lead us to crumbling infrastructure in a hurry.
Those “non critical routes” as you call them are the most important when it comes to getting food, fuel, and fiber off the farms and out of the fields keeping this country fed and providing the single largest export sectors we have, ag and petroleum.
I have faith that if we reelect Donald Trump and take the House in November that we’ll finally be able to address these critical issues. The only thing stopping Donald Trump from making America great again are the Democrats who are opposing him on everything he’s been trying to do.
I say we start selling the naming rights to all of the highways. Instead of us 1 it can be jimmy John’s highway. Bridges as well. Ban all private billboards and only put them on highway land, money into the infrastructure trust fund. We can do this
I can see value in that. Just like stadiums and arenas and college football bowl sponsorship.
However, I can also see it getting politicized. Or become a source of conflict. “Sons of the Confederacy” highway. “Planned Parenthood” memorial bridge. “George Soros International Airport.” Etc.
Absolutely not. As soon as you have “ban”, it’s a non-starter. Even more, you are proposing a purely socialistic program of nationalizing all billboards.
Maintaining US highways and interstates is arguably a fedgov constitutional dictate. (The interstate system was designed and created foundationally as a matter of national defense, after all.) Department of Education should not exist at all. And at a minimum, it shouldn’t exist at the invasive level it does. Realign our constitutional priorities.
The history of the ED is interesting and supports my facts on imposition of secular puritanism. Of course like all of them it was insidious, requiring a century and a half to fully infect.
I am not proposing to cut States off from funding. And I am well aware of how the Department of Transportation doles out funding.
But the vast majority of Federal funding goes to the national highway system, which is comprised of the Interstate Highway System and the United States Highway System. Roads outside those two systems are partially funded with Federal block grants, but at a far lower amount.
Funding U.S. Highway 301 or U.S. Highway 17 at a higher amount diverts money from higher priority roadways. By decommissioning all or most of these roadways, I am merely prioritizing.
I am NOT totally denying funds to these routes.
And I do believe the several States have to step up their own funding.
The new procurement of the b 21 raider bombers is about 100 billion. So bernie can shift that money out of defense and put it into infrastructure in the name of national emergency. Easy peasy
