Have you wondered why our government can't fix the crumbling infrastructure?

Maybe it’s time to invest in infrastructure?

By Steve Benen 05/01/14

A friend of mine in Baltimore emailed last night to ask if I’d heard about a landslide near where he lives. I hadn’t, but it was a doozy – part of a major street collapsed yesterday, swallowing cars and flooding railroad tracks that ran below street level.

Fortunately, and somewhat miraculously, no one was injured, but seeing the footage was a timely reminder that now would an excellent time for the United States to make some investments in transportation infrastructure.

At roughly the same time as the Baltimore slide, Michael Grunwald was reporting that the Obama administration is thinking along the same lines.
Republicans have urged the Obama Administration to propose a major transportation bill, calling America’s crumbling infrastructure a natural issue for bipartisan cooperation.

Well, on Tuesday, the Administration unveiled a four-year, $300-billion transportation bill. It included a 22% increase in highway funding, a 70% increase in transit funding, and a provision allowing states to put tolls on interstates. At a time when one in nine U.S. bridges are rated “structurally deficient,” and nearly half the public lacks access to public transit, it’s a pretty ambitious piece of legislation.
Well, good. Improvements to the nation’s transportation infrastructure are not exactly optional – this is a question of “when” not “if.” It’s not like we’re prepared to stop moving people and products around the country, and it’s more cost effective to repair and improve existing infrastructure than wait for roadways to deteriorate to the point of collapse.

And at least in theory, the pieces appear to have lined up nicely. We have a strong need for improvements; we have workers eager to begin projects and earn a paycheck; and we can even borrow money easily to afford these investments.

So why is it the White House’s major transportation bill generated almost no attention this week? Perhaps because it’s generally understood that congressional Republicans aren’t going to pass it.
For more go to: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maybe-its … astructure

The photo shows A road-widening project in Florida City, Florida, funded by the stimulus bill. Joe Raedle/Getty Images