Build The Future: America Will Not Survive By Cuts Alone

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 

"Infrastructure. Not a word that typically kicks off a lively conversation, but it should.

When we're sitting in traffic or waiting out flight delays at the airport, taking a detour because a bridge is out or left on the corner because the bus is too crowded, we're experiencing the repercussions of inadequate attention to the nation's infrastructure.

The dire consequences of continuing to ignore long-term infrastructure needs are effectively laid out in a new report released Aug. 8 by Building America's Future -- an advocacy group founded by former Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, former Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and independent New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The report's conclusions deserve attention even from those members of Congress who seem focused only on looking in the nation's rear-view mirror.

Here are some of the findings:

• In 2005, U.S. infrastructure was ranked first in the world; now it's sitting at number 15.

• None of the world's top 10 sea ports is in the United States, and six of them are in China, ready to handle vast quantities of exports."

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