Posted on 10/11/2017 8:51:41 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
The Midwest is safe from hurricanes and drought-driven wildfires. But that does not mean the region and its roads and bridges are free from the threat of climate change, a new study warns.
Higher temperatures and unusually heavy rain events in the Midwest spell trouble for transportation and infrastructure systems, according to a study released Tuesday by the Midwest Economic Policy Institute. The group is a division of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank whose members include representatives from the construction industry and labor unions.
“Rising temperatures and the likelihood of more storms and flooding reduce the lifespan of roads and bridges, could cause railways to buckle, and threaten above-ground energy facilities and transmission lines,” said study author Mary Craighead, transportation policy analyst with the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, in a statement. “Without critical maintenance and modernization of these systems, everything from freight and commuter routes to our region’s overall economic value as a net distributor of electricity could be jeopardized.”
The study concludes that infrastructure is “grossly underfunded” to meet the maintenance and growth needs of the nation. Even without accounting for adaptations for climate change, the funding gap between needs and revenues between 2016 and 2025 is over $2 trillion for national infrastructure systems, the study said, citing the American Society of Civil Engineers.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Liars lie—it is what they do.
That is our biggest crisis today.
Anytime someone, or something, tells you they’re non-partisan, you can bet your bottom dollar they’re highly partisan and tend towards the Left.
Derp!
They pave roads to last 5 years where I live, even though they have the capability to make them last 25+ years. Of course initial cost is the big factor, but none-the-less, obsolescence is built in to most infrastructure. Climate change will have almost nothing to do with that.
“Pay us da money!”
Bookmark
From what I understand, the primary damagers of Midwest roads are road salt and the freeze-thaw cycle. Global warming would save the roads.
These groups do not know a damned thing about Climatology. They are not scientists. They are special interest groups sucking up government grants from the hog trough. Of course they are going to squeeeeeeel! for their socialist masters.
The union road workers need some job security, doncha know!?!
I remember when the Silver bridge collapsed back in 1967. Don’t remember if it was glo-bull warming or the coming ice age that caused it.
What ever happened to that ~$800B for infrastructure that Joe “Plugs” Biden was overseeing to make sure it wasn’t wasted?
Mary Craighead author of article. Not much there there.
Mary Craighead, AICP is the Transportation Policy Analyst at the Illinois Economic Policy Institute. She previously served as the Coordinator for the Victoria, TX Metropolitan Planning Organization and Senior Transportation Planner for the City of Victoria, TX. She holds a Master of Urban Planning from Texas A&M University and a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Evansville.
Is it my imagination or have the alarmists raised their rhetoric to volume 11’since Trump cut off their magical money spigot
Here in S.E. Michigan that's a major cause but it's compounded by all the semi trucks on the highways......
I've often wondered if there wasn't a way to enhance asphalt to make it more durable and longer lasting....
Geez, there’s never been wildfires or hurricanes before.
Actually it threatens the INTEGRITY OF SCIENCE.
The fraud is being used to undermine:
-the industrial West,
-Capitalism,
-Third World development,
-Procreation world wide,
-Freedom, etc...
Roads the last longer don’t generate as much in campaign contributions. Roads that need to be resurfaced every two years are JUST RIGHT.
Gasoline prices were low when the tax was approved so nobody really noticed or complained. But when gas goes up again, and it likely will, that's when the tax will be felt.
propagandists are concerned that fly-over America will feel safe from “rising oceans”, so they try to frighten us with bent railroad rails and more rain than normal, though the latter would be considered a good thing by most Westerners and Midwesterners. Guess that just leaves bent railroad rails.
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