[EternalVigilance]

Back when the propaganda was being pushed to raise the gas tax here in Iowa we kept hearing about what bad shape the rural bridges are in. I kept asking them why such dangerous structures are not closed. All I got was *crickets* in response.

[iowamark]

I am sorry. George Mason University, not GWU.

http://mercatus.org/
“The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is the world’s premier university source for market-oriented ideas—bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.

A university-based research center, the Mercatus Center advances knowledge about how markets work to improve people’s lives by training graduate students, conducting research, and applying economics to offer solutions to society’s most pressing problems.

Our mission is to generate knowledge and understanding of the institutions that affect the freedom to prosper, and to find sustainable solutions that overcome the barriers preventing individuals from living free, prosperous, and peaceful lives.

Founded in 1980, the Mercatus Center is located on George Mason University’s Arlington campus.”

The author Robert Krol is a professor of economics at California State University, Northridge

[afraidfortherepublic]

Paul Ryan on our crumbling infrastructure.

FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.

[Ray76]

“Highway funds” are spent on bicycle trails, buses and bus lanes, “high speed” rail, and assorted other nonsense. If there is any “shortage” it’s because of profligate misspending (thievery) by states (eg: Maryland, Delaware).

[Ace's Dad]

government statistics tell a different story.

I'm supposed to accept "government statistics"? No!

[Rummyfan]

Where is the money? We've been hearing about the crumbling infrastructure for almost seven years now and trillions have been allocated to address it. I guess it all went to the unions....

[clearcarbon]

"Most politicians and transportation interest groups claim that America’s infrastructure is in bad shape."

So why is the government accelerating the rate of import and subsidy of infrastructure and resource consuming foreign nationals? Are they expected to be pulling cars and rowing ferry boats?

[this_ol_patriot]

LOL come drive in Pennsylvania, one trip down I-83 from Harrisburg to the Maryland border is all the stats you need.

If that's not enough then try I-81 from Harrisburg to Scranton, that'll jar some brain cells loose.

[The KG9 Kid]

Drive through even remote parts of Nevada and the highways are usually made of freshly applied asphalt blacktop wherever you drive. Real nice and smooth sailing. We have a law in Nevada that demands that Federal highway road funds actually be used for highways.

Drive west out of Reno or Lake Tahoe into California, however, and the highway turns from coal-black asphalt and bright yellow painted lines to rutty grey potholes and obliterated paint as soon as you pass the ‘Welcome To California!’ sign. Feels like you’re driving through flak. California dumps its federal highway dollars into the state ‘general fund’.

Next thing you notice entering California are the signs that declare stiff penalties for speeding, driving without a seat belt, carrying produce, driving drunk, abandoning animals, littering, possession of fireworks, talking on your cell phone, and rolling your eyes at the gay rainbow flag. You get to try to read all of these mile by mile as your car bounces from pothole to pothole.

I’ve been tempted to put up a road sign on the Nevada side of the border heading into California reading “NOW LEAVING THE AMERICAN SECTOR” in military-style stenciled black letters on a white background just like in West Berlin at ‘Checkpoint Charlie’.

[Organic Panic]

It can't be. That would mean Obama mis-spent the stimulus funds. AND continued to mispend the extra trillion dollars from stimulus that was rolled in to the spending baseline.

By the way... 6 years running and the federal building in Honolulu is still not done.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Screaming about the “nation’s crumbling infrastructure” is a ruse — a lie to get more money — for pet projects like bike trails and environmental boondoggles, or to shovel to well connected, crony capitalist road construction companies to put up fancy traffic monitoring systems that, while nice, should not be a priority in an era of trillion dollar deficits. Crumbling infrastructure is like “for the children” — a Pavlov Dog bell that gets the sucker taxpayers to open up their wallets to spend more on what the politicians want.

[Vaquero]

I am more concerned about America’s crumbling moral structure and the collapse of free enterprise and the willful destruction of my individual rights.

[VTenigma]

BOHICA

[central_va]

What happened to the stimulus and shovel ready?

[Vigilanteman]

All I know is that they constantly seem to be closing some lane of some section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to "resurface" the road. Most of the time, you can't tell why it needed resurfacing and, other than the more even color of the pavement, you can't tell that they've done anything when finished.

I think it is just a "window dressing" program to convince the public that they are actually doing something with their rising turnpike toll collections other than paying padded salaries and benefits to the toll collectors.

[Arm_Bears]

Shovel-ready jobs.

Remember those?

[hinckley buzzard]

This has been a pet peeve of mine. The "crumbling infrastructure" meme was invented as a political soundbite, (and marketing for the civil engineering business), not a description of facts on the ground. In normal thinking, at most it simply refers to the natural need for routine maintenance. And aside from the badly designed bridge in Minnesota years ago, when was the last time anyone heard of a "crumbling bridge" collapsing into the water below.