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Rhiannon12866

(203,033 posts)
Fri May 15, 2015, 03:29 AM May 2015

A Road Map to Fix America’s Transportation Infrastructure

Why is America's transportation system so outdated, why should we care, and what can we do about it? Rosabeth Moss Kanter offers a road map to roadway recovery in her new book, Move: Putting America's Infrastructure Back in the Lead.

Any highway commuter who has wasted hours stuck in traffic can see the cracks in the United States' transportation system, as can any airline passenger who has been stranded overnight in an airport. Yet while many agree that the need for infrastructure change is urgent, where is the sense of urgency to make these changes happen?

That's one of the questions Harvard Business School Professor of Business Administration Rosabeth Moss Kanter asks in her book published today, Move: Putting America's Infrastructure Back in the Lead.

"Given so many situations and factors that should arouse enormous concern, why is it so hard to secure public support for long-term infrastructure investments and get Congress to vote for them?" Kanter writes. "I think it's a structural issue. Silos, narrow interests, and fragmentation mute outrage. Perhaps we're stuck not only with aging infrastructure but also with obsolete ways of talking about it."

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7705.html
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A Road Map to Fix America’s Transportation Infrastructure (Original Post) Rhiannon12866 May 2015 OP
Precisely Sherman A1 May 2015 #1
Thanks! Rhiannon12866 May 2015 #2
Agreed Sherman A1 May 2015 #3
That's an excellent point. Rhiannon12866 May 2015 #4
It seems to me that Democratic presidential candidates could use the Amtrak tragedy... jamesatemple May 2015 #5
That sounds like an important and winning campaign issue to me, too Rhiannon12866 May 2015 #6
Posted to for later reading. n/t 1StrongBlackMan May 2015 #7
Should be a no brainer. K&R Very good read...thanks. n/t Jefferson23 May 2015 #8

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
1. Precisely
Fri May 15, 2015, 04:35 AM
May 2015

We need to look at roads and infrastructure from the viewpoints described in the article and get busy on renewal.

Rhiannon12866

(203,033 posts)
2. Thanks!
Fri May 15, 2015, 04:55 AM
May 2015

And I agree. We need some new ideas here, but mostly we need to address this frightening and real problem now - before we forget again.

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
3. Agreed
Fri May 15, 2015, 05:23 AM
May 2015

we need both! It's a shame that we cannot sell the concept of infrastructure as a National Security Issue (because it really is one). I would think if it was viewed as such, funding would no longer be a problem.

Rhiannon12866

(203,033 posts)
4. That's an excellent point.
Fri May 15, 2015, 05:39 AM
May 2015

As with so many urgent issues, when a tragedy happens, it's all over the news and is foremost in the national conversation, but then we move on to the next big issue and it's conveniently forgotten - until the next time.

jamesatemple

(342 posts)
5. It seems to me that Democratic presidential candidates could use the Amtrak tragedy...
Fri May 15, 2015, 06:24 AM
May 2015

...to draw more than passing attention, justifying in the minds of the voting public the dire need for infrastructure overhaul. Whether or not the the Amtrak wreckage was caused by infrastructure failure, the horrific images of it should be kept fresh in the minds of voters throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. Neither party should fail to to have overhauling the Country's infrastructure as a major plank in their platforms of the coming election merely because of the natural penchant of "out of sight, out of mind". And, most assuredly, the Democratic platform should champion the cause.

Rhiannon12866

(203,033 posts)
6. That sounds like an important and winning campaign issue to me, too
Fri May 15, 2015, 07:19 AM
May 2015

I would certainly support it, but then I'm both a liberal Democrat and paying attention. The Democratic congressional candidate who ran in my district last November actually had infrastructure as a signature campaign issue, one of the reasons he impressed me. Unfortunately, he lost to a Paul Ryan protégé, can't help wondering if people will forget this week's terrible tragedy - yet again - by the next election.

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