Stimulus Package To First Pay for Routine Repairs

[Adsos Letter]

Source: Washington Post

President-elect Barack Obama calls it "the largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s." New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg compares it to the New Deal -- when workers built hundreds of bridges, dams and parkways -- while saying it could help close the gap with China, where he recently traveled on a Shanghai train at 267 mph.

Most of the infrastructure spending being proposed for the massive stimulus package that Obama and congressional Democrats are readying, however, is not exactly the stuff of history, but destined for routine projects that have been on the to-do lists of state highway departments for years. Oklahoma wants to repave stretches of Interstates 35 and 40 and build "cable barriers" to keep wayward cars from crossing medians. New Jersey wants to repaint 88 bridges and restore Route 35 from Toms River to Mantoloking. Scottsdale, Ariz., wants to widen 1.5 miles of Scottsdale

On the campaign trail, Obama said he would "rebuild America" with an "infrastructure bank" run by a new board that would award $60 billion over a decade to projects such as high-speed rail to take the country in a more energy-efficient direction. But the crumbling economy, while giving impetus to big spending plans, has also put a new emphasis on projects that can be started immediately -- "use it or lose it," Obama said last week -- and created a clear tension between the need to create jobs fast and the desire for a lasting legacy.

"It doesn't have the power to stir men's souls," said David Goldberg of Smart Growth America. "Repair and maintenance are good. We need to make sure we're building bridges that stand, not bridges to nowhere. But to gild the lily . . . where we're resurfacing pieces of road that aren't that critical, just to be able to say we spent the money, is not what we're after."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/13/AR2008121301819.html?hpid=topnews

[RC]

1. Why bother to repair roads and fix bridges when nobody can afford to drive cars anyway.

:sarcasm:

[HooptieWagon]

3. Sarcasm or not, you have a point.

It wouldn't make sense to do major repairs or upgrades on highways and bridges that aren't essential in a long term transportation plan. I would like to see high speed rail fill the gap of medium distance transportation - trips that are too far to drive, but too short to fly. That would save a fair bit of gas... and of course some of those corresponding highways wouldn't need expanding or replacement, just maintaining as they are.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Well, gee, those reparied roads will hold up really well carrying

horse-drawn traffic after the oil runs out.

[undeterred]

2. Oh, I was hoping they meant the routine repairs

Americans can't afford to make to their cars and homes.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. That would be a good idea.

Weatherization programs, mortgage relief, general repairs--I'd support that kind of thing.

[eilen]

7. We've had school projects on hold for years

Our inner-city schools are in sad disrepair, it would be great to get them all wired for cable and set up for wireless internet and build up the libraries. We also have bridges and roads that need resurfacing after so many years of winter weather associated damage. Drainage projects are needed as well. Our city also needs to replace the water pipes. Land reclamation -- repossessing abandoned decrepit housing that are in tax default and bulldozing them and creating community garden coops would be another good project. Gets rid of crackhouse flophouses and provides fresh produce--people to be more food independent.

[Fearless]

6. Such projects are aimed at getting people jobs...

Jobs give people money to spend. Spending overhauls the stalled economy. It was called the New Deal.

[MilesColtrane]

8. Needs to be done, but what happens to those unable to work construction?

Reconstitute the WPA.

If things are going to get as bad as the numbers suggest, we're going to need it.

[Cassius23]

9. What about the pencil pushers?

There are a whole lot of people who don't do construction who are out of jobs, what about them?

Die in a housefire I guess

[MindPilot]

10. Behind every constructions worker are dozens of "pencil pushers"

Architects, designers, engineers and all their support staff. There are suppliers, transporters and logistic people, building inspectors and all the behind the scenes people who get that truckload of concrete to the right place at the right time.

[Zhade]

11. Or what about those of us who still have jobs -- and see our money become worth less daily?

If we're employed, we won't see any benefit? We're still paying outrageous prices for basic necessities, what about us?