We have no money to maintain bridges

American bridges are falling apart, and there’s no plan to fix them. The Growth Ponzi Scheme has put our cities on a path of quantity over quality. We build a lot of stuff, all of it to a finished state. That stuff then sits and rots—perhaps with some nominal maintenance from time to time—until it falls apart, at which point we put together a huge project to replace it with something new built to a finished state. How can our cities afford new infrasructure when they can’t afford to properly maintain what we already have? We need our cities to become more interested in maintaining and effectively managing our aging infrastructure, before it’s too late.

[definitelyhuman]

Don't worry, as soon as we get one more lane we'll definitely fix traffic

[goldie]

America simply has too much infrastructure, because of sprawl. It's impossible to maintain this much pavement. The country needs to condense around population centers and get rid of the sprawl. Then repairing bridges won't be a stretch.

[gbrldnny]

i think about this EVERY time i drive over a bridge, especially small ones

[brianh]

We kind of do bridges like we do healthcare - we do something about it after total collapse. I live in Minneapolis by the way - the place where the 1-35 bridge collapsed in 2007 which killed 13 people and injured 145. It wasn't like the city, state, and federal government weren't aware that the bridge was falling down.

[Hahlen]

The only way to fix these bridges is by putting more lanes on them

[grail]

It's crazy. Just stop building roads. Just stop. There are enough roads. Maintain the ones that already exist. We will literally never need more of them.

[philippelarocque]

It's the same in Canada, or at least in my province. Politicians get attention for building new things, not for taxing you for maintaining what's there. I blame the electors for not wising up to this, since politicians are in competition and the one that does the right thing, loses.

[sspoonless]

Spend less on car lanes, more on trains & bike lanes.

[ConnorLangkopf]

My city has a 40 year old "temporary" bridge that was only meant to last 5 years. You can see entire beams completely rusted through, yet the latet inspection found nothing to be "structurally deficient."

[highflyingmoon]

We have the same problem in germany. There was a bridge collaps in dresden some weeks ago 😐

[lex]

Most American infrastructure has incentives to build with federal and state funding, but almost no funding goes towards maintenance and upgrades. This creates clear incentives to build the best you can and let it rot before you build anything better.

This can be addressed with legislation and proper regulation enforcement.

[tedtansley]

It's absolutely incredible that State leaders and DOTs just ignored what was needed. How does that even happen though? Would love a series on that. Like how is it a bunch of supposedly intelligent engineering professionals just ignore the obvious need to repair these?

[geisaune]

I agree! Can’t wait for the video about how mostly (or perhaps entirely) replacing all other taxes with the Land Value Tax would fundamentally reshape society in such a way that would force us to prioritize dense development, walkability, and public transit while simultaneously providing the funding necessary to maintain all infrastructure that currently exists! Just tax land!

Chuck Marohn supports it, your website has at least two different pages on the Land Value Tax, Mr. Beat has made a video about it, BritMonkey has made _two_ videos about it, let’s get that Land Value Tax video! All hail Henry George!

[TheLyricalCleric]

Railroads, freight rail, passenger rail. Require X percentage of all highway spending devoted to expanding/rebuilding rail lines.

[ferko]

The "bridge repair" in Illinois consists of removal of about an 1" of concrete from the surface and replaced with a nice new 1" layer right before winter.

[disabilityadvoc]

Current infrastructure is not maintained. They just build add-ons, then don't maintain it.

[valeriereishuk]

Our I195 Interstate Bridge in the state capital is being replaced b/c of emergency failure. Additional public bus transit/fare incentives? None.

[yossarian]

People need to fully understand the meaning of the term "Structurally Deficient"

[claudiaperea]

I see this everywhere in Rochester, NY. especially because of the road de-icer that’s used, sooo many of the overpasses and bridges are falling apart.

[alixbechard-demers]

This country is gone. A relic of history, a predator of humanity.