Articles About Infrastructure From Last Week

Since I am constantly talking to other people about the crumbling infrastructure of this great country, I thought I would post some links to articles I have come across on the topic. I am also going to make a new label in the sidebar for this specific topic because, well, it would be easier. Here are a few links:

Huffington Post: No president has paid serious attention to infrastructure since Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had a vision for the future. His vision led to constructing the U.S. interstate highway system, the roads on which our economy has traveled for five decades. But Eisenhower's vision was for his future. That future is our past.

FresnoBee: Many of our most important public works projects have come in times of deep economic distress -- and they have been crucial elements in our recovery in those times.
Recall the Great Depression, when voters in the Bay Area passed bonds to build the Golden Gate and Bay bridges -- projects that lightened the impact of the Depression on that region and were critical to the postwar economic boom. Shasta Dam was built during the Depression, and remains a linchpin of the state's water system. The greatest public works project in the nation's history -- the transcontinental railroad -- was set in motion by Abraham Lincoln at the outset of the Civil War, the most troubled period of our history.

Market Watch: "Washington should follow Pennsylvania's lead on infrastructure investment. America's highways, bridges, tunnels, and mass transit have fallen behind because the federal government is contributing only 25 percent of infrastructure funding and the rest is coming from financially strapped state and local governments.
"In 1961, when Dwight D. Eisenhower left office, the federal government was allocating 12.5 percent of its non-military spending to infrastructure. Today, that percentage has fallen to 2.5. If Washington steps up its commitment of resources for infrastructure investment, we could create millions of jobs across the country and turn this economy around," Governor Rendell said.

Atlanta Journal Constitution: I would have the federal government send each state an amount equal to 5 percent of its current year general fund budget with the following stipulation on how to spend the money: 60 percent of the money should go to infrastructure spending on roads, buildings, airports, water and sewer projects, whatever the state’s priorities are. States could be allowed to spend the other 40 percent however they chose...People are tiring of bailouts and rescue plans. People don’t like seeing their tax dollars fly out the door to help people or businesses that seem to have created their own problems. However, this plan would send the money to people’s communities. Plus, at the end of the day, this plan will leave us with something lasting: new infrastructure that serves our community’s needs.