The Obvious Thing

Matthew Yglesias points out that Americans do a poor job of maintaining and upgrading our infrastructures.  We spend about 2.4% of our gross domestic product on infrastructure, compared to 5% in European counties (which I should add are not as car-oriented as the United States is).  We're spending less than we were in the 1960s.

Whenever I drive around, I see communities that can't keep up with repairs on local roads, I read about our aging sewer infrastructure, the number of bridges that will need to be replaced.   When I went on a Illinois river, I was told about a decaying dam that had jurisdictions arguing for years over who bears the responsibility of repairing it. 

Obviously we have a lot of local projects that need work.  Obviously at the moment we have a good number of unemployed people, many of them in construction.  Obviously with the construction industry feeling the pain of a slow economy, prices are competitive.  Obviously with interest rates at near-zero at the moment, now would be a good time to start borrowing and funding some local projects that will have to be done anyway at some point in the future, probably when interest rates are higher.

So obviously the logical thing to do is cut spending.  After all, a chance to fund projects at extremely low interest rates at very competitive prices and putting people to work at a time of high unemployment is simply a fantastic opportunity that must be passed up.

If you don't agree with that, call your Senators and Representatives and ask why the best chance to do a lot of local infrastructure projects at the best price in years is being passed up.

Where's the Outrage? #2

Earlier today I discussed the lack of outrage over the over engineering of roads and the misuse of funds toward that end.  I gave an example, and I have an additional example.

Below in the map, zoom in as close as you can to Hwy 100 at Shepard Avenue.  Now follow it eastward all the way to Hwy 32 near the lake. Speechless, aren't you?  Keep in mind they cut off the east segment of Ryan Road so it is longer connected to the rest of the road in order to create this monstrosity.  What possible justification did they have for this?  What was wrong with simply staying with Ryan Road?


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Like the intersection of Airline Road and Spring Street, there is no apparent rationale for the vast overbuilding of Highway 100 in this segment.

Where's the Outrage?

Many advocates for mass transit have noted that as much as anti-rail and anti-bus people like to complain about the cost of mass transit, there is a definite lack of outrage at misuse of road funds.

I give you Exhibit #1, the grossly oversized intersection of Airline Road and Spring Street in Mt. Pleasant.  Be sure to zoom in to see that the Westbound Spring Street has two left turns into southbound Airline Road, which immediately narrows to one lane and then ends into a quiet residential area served by what can only be described as country roads.  There is nothing in the area to justify this oversized intersection.  I'm sure there are many more examples-send 'em to me.


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Where's the fiscal conservatism and the outrage on this?

Interesting post

So, umm...somebody...wrote a post over at the National Low Income Housing Coalition's blog, On the Home Front.