Infrastructure

 Infrastructure 

the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.

"the social and economic infrastructure of a country"

Recently congress passed a major bipartisan infrastructure appropriations bill.

While I don’t know what is in the Bill, I want to comment on the concept.

First -today -roads and transportation

In 1956 the Federal-aid transportation act was passed.  Called the Eisenhower Interstate highway system, it had been discussed for years after cars became a common mode of transportation.

As highways were developed many cities wanted the roads to connect towns and cities- more traffic, more retail sales, more hotels/motels/, more restaurants.  So when going from point A to B places close to the roads wanted traffic through their towns to increase.  But consumers generally wanted to get from A to B the fastest way!  

Eventually, the highways were built so that if you had an unlimited gas supply, and didn’t need food or sleep you could travel from coast to coast without leaving the road.  

(Aside - my neighbor, Don, and I used our Tonka trucks and graders and built cloverleaf interchanges in the soft dirt at the end of our driveway!  (I should have been a civil engineer!!) 

The roads would link cities but wouldn’t go “into” cities for commerce. 

Now in 2021, interstate highways are a norm for travel.  Going to my class reunion last weekend I generally avoid the interstate highways going to the event but used them almost exclusively to get home.  

On the first of the trip, I wanted to see and visit specific things like the state high points for Arkansas and Illinois, and the inclined cable elevator in Dubuque.  

Growing up in Iowa there was some discussion that the interstate highways were chewing up some great farmland.  Coming back I was on four-lane, controlled access, divided highways most of the way.  

But, the original highways have gotten older.  The old joke about the two seasons in the Midwest are the winter season and the road construction season.  (Doing road construction in winter can be hard!). In Texas and southern states that don’t get snow, construction goes year around.  My only delays on my trip back were construction zones - most notably through Fort Worth and Waco Texas.  

Keeping the roads open and repaired can be a challenge.  If a 50 mile stretch of road could be closed for a month, it would get finished but if you need to keep a lane open while repairing the road will lengthen the process.  

What should the roads of the year 2060 be like?  Should they be ready with hyper-computing and autonomous vehicles?  (I think so).

Or will we no longer need roads because we will have mini-flying cars? 

This leads to planning.  What might the travel of the year 2060 be like?  Planning for the traffic of 2021 may not solve traffic of 2040 or 2060.  

And lightly / what about electrical and telephone poles and transmission lines? What about water and the internet?  Some of our water systems need major work. Can you imagine the cost to redo the water and sewer for New York City? 

Who should own and maintain infrastructure?  Should there be toll roads?  How about high speed trains like Japan, China, and Europe? 

Ocean travel gets cars from other parts of the world and gas and oil to our shores.  

Infrastructure