The solution is easy.
SUSPEND ALL NEW CONSTRUCTION.
Inspect existing infrastructure and determine repair and maintenance needs.
Budget for repairs and maintenance first, before budgeting for new construction. Add repairs and maintenance for new constructions to the future budget.
If repair and maintenance requirements exceed the budget available, then it time to close down some of the existing infrastructure or raise additional revenue.
But, whatever happens, maintenance and repair for existing infrastructure needs to be budgeted first.
Problem is new construction sounds better than maintaining existing infrastructure. Also puts more money into the hands of favored contractors and generates more kickbacks for the politicians and bureaucrats.
There also needs to be punishment (as in jail time) for any crisis caused by deferred maintenance or repairs.
Here’s another little change that will save BILLIONS down the road:
Stop using steel re-bar in concrete structures. Simple as that.
Steel re-bar rusts and destroys the concrete it’s imbedded in. Why is Roman concrete still sound after hundreds of years, but we can’t get 50 years out of a bridge abutment?
Maybe aluminum or plastic reinforcement will word better?