A developed economy quickly takes ones mind to modern infrastructure be it the road, rail, air or water ways. US had been leading in this race to provide its people with the best in the world. However that is not true any longer. US now ranks the 23rd in terms of Infrastructure as many reports now show. The aging highways, bridges and over booked airports have added to commuters misery and it is only getting worse.
With the economic downturn, the infrastructure projects are always put on the back burner. The very key element on which this country runs. I wanted to see what has been spent in the last few decades even if we haven't done much in the last few years due to many reasons.
Based on research done by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the following pictures shows how spending on infrastructural projects have been done as compared to GDP.
The picture above show that US has been spending money both at the state and federal level. The picture below changes the view.
Now taking a look at the population growth along with the growth in the vehicular traffic, this looks scary. Highway Authority provides this outlook which provides a glimpse of what is going on
So what can be done to address this.
1. Raise road use or fuel tax - This is easier said than done. With a depressed economy this is the last thing any government would like to do.
2. Better management of Federal and State funds - Assigning proper responsibility and allocation of funds, some of the must need infrastructure projects can be done better.
3. Private and Public collaboration - As many developing and developed economies of the world have done, joint venture projects can be initiated and then a small fee can be levied for using this.
4. Promoting more public transportation projects - On a long run this becomes cost effective and also will reduce the dependency of individuals having to drive for hours regularly. This would reduce congestion and the existing infrastructure can be used effectively.
Sooner or later some of these things will need to done in this US too, otherwise this is soon going to be a positive catalyst to disaster.
Cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Houston, Atlanta and many others have an extremely chocked roadways and airports. If we want to avoid a collapse, some drastic measure and may be hard choices needs to be taken.
I would like to love to hear what others feel about this and what suggestion you may have.
With the economic downturn, the infrastructure projects are always put on the back burner. The very key element on which this country runs. I wanted to see what has been spent in the last few decades even if we haven't done much in the last few years due to many reasons.
Based on research done by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the following pictures shows how spending on infrastructural projects have been done as compared to GDP.
The picture above show that US has been spending money both at the state and federal level. The picture below changes the view.
Now taking a look at the population growth along with the growth in the vehicular traffic, this looks scary. Highway Authority provides this outlook which provides a glimpse of what is going on
So what can be done to address this.
1. Raise road use or fuel tax - This is easier said than done. With a depressed economy this is the last thing any government would like to do.
2. Better management of Federal and State funds - Assigning proper responsibility and allocation of funds, some of the must need infrastructure projects can be done better.
3. Private and Public collaboration - As many developing and developed economies of the world have done, joint venture projects can be initiated and then a small fee can be levied for using this.
4. Promoting more public transportation projects - On a long run this becomes cost effective and also will reduce the dependency of individuals having to drive for hours regularly. This would reduce congestion and the existing infrastructure can be used effectively.
Sooner or later some of these things will need to done in this US too, otherwise this is soon going to be a positive catalyst to disaster.
Cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Houston, Atlanta and many others have an extremely chocked roadways and airports. If we want to avoid a collapse, some drastic measure and may be hard choices needs to be taken.
I would like to love to hear what others feel about this and what suggestion you may have.
