For those who have traveled a lot. Have you noticed how poorly US infrastructure is maintained?...

[Locut0s]

This isn't really on topic for anything. I suppose it definitely does showcase how sad it is that the wealthiest nation in the world has all of its wealth so hyper concentrated at the top that even it's infrastructure is falling apart. I'm no business traveler but I've done a fair bit of traveling in my life. Every time I've traveled through the US I've often been struck my how sadly maintained much of the major infrastructure is. Roads, highways, airports. Visiting most other first world nations you see a stark contrast. I know this isn't a new topic. It's been talked about many times before. But I'm wondering what people have personally experienced?

[haveahart]

1. Yes!

[JI7]

2. I haven't traveled much but drive a lot for one my jobs and wealthy areas have shitty roads also

[Coventina]

3. When I go to Europe and Japan, yes.

When I go to SE Asia and Cuba, no.

[Locut0s]

8. That's why I was specifically comparing the US to other 1st world nations...

I've traveled a lot in the developing world too. But the US is the wealthiest nation on earth. Technically anyway.

[Coventina]

9. I know. We might be wealthiest, but we have poor priorities.

Well, we do since Ronnie Ray-gun anyway.

*sigh*

[PJMcK]

4. Just spent 10 days in Ireland

The roads were remarkably well-maintained, although some rural roads were quite narrow. Signage was exceptionally clear. The Dublin airport was clean, efficient and well-designed.

Returning to NYC, the Van Wyck Expressway was dark, pot-hole filled and construction signs were indicating things that weren't there, like lane closures that weren't. JFK airport is one of the worst in the U.S.

Our nation's infrastructure is third-rate.

[benld74]

5. Indiana has been crapola soon as u cross state line

Let's see, who was the Govenor again???

[leftstreet]

6. We need a Public Works Program

The maintenance and improvement of US infrastructure SUCKS

But that's what happens when you cut labor and sell off 'repairs' and bandaid fixes to the lowest bidder

[Locut0s]

7. Speaking of specifics. I can remember flying through Houston...

I think I had a connecting flight through George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. I was startled at how poor the condition of the airport looked. It reminded me more of facilities that I'd traveled through in the developing world.

[Brother Buzz]

10. I see a tons of roadwork happening in California

Seismic bridge/overpass retrofits and road repaving. Interesting, the paving is done at night to reduce the impact on traffic.

I can count five major projects going on less then ten miles from my house, and I live in a rural area. Much, much more going on in the urban areas.

[a la izquierda]

11. I've been all over Western Europe

The US is ridiculous.

[dembotoz]

12. Wisconsin roads suck and now we hear thanks to foxconn deal

There won't be enough cash to finish the biggest interchange on the west side of Milwaukee

[ProfessorGAC]

22. They Didn't Used To, Though

Going on I-90 or I-39 from IL into WI used to be like going from riding on railroad tracks to a pool table. And, it wasn't that long ago.

10 or 12 years? I used to go up to WI for work to visit UW at Madison, and to do process and quality audits for a few suppliers. (Plus, had to go to Madison a couple times a year for things at the credit union national HQ.)

Haven't been that way in the last 7 to 10 years, but WI roads were always way better than IL.

Sorry to hear that this has changed.

[MyNameIsKhan]

13. Other than Japan at 127m, we need to compare US with other 330mil nations... comparing with small EU

nations and gulf will not give us any data.

[Kentonio]

20. Why?

Countries with smaller populations have correspondingly smaller GDPs to fund their infrastructure. This idea that America can't be compared to smaller 1st world nations just acts as an excuse to avoid facing upto the issues.

[Orrex]

21. A case can be made...

that countries with larger populations and a higher volume of massive commercial vehicles will inflict greater wear-and-tear on roads, bridges, and the like.

That's not to excuse the United States' utter neglect of its infrastructure, but it's not entirely clear that a 1:1 comparison is helpful or valid.


Regardless, the only reason why we don't have better infrastructure is the entirely unrestrained greed of the 1%.

[hunter]

14. Caltrans has upgraded most of the scarier bridges I used to regularly drive across...

... but there's still a few I wouldn't want to be on in a large earthquake.

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/paffairs/about/retrofit.htm

The Loma Prieta earthquake was especially terrifying for my wife and I because we were living out of state and had family who were regular commuters on the roads that collapsed. It was several hours before they could check in with family outside.

I also had family living near the Northridge earthquake, just a few blocks away from the gas main that exploded.

It was all on television before we knew friends and family were safe.

If the road surfaces are a little rough I'm okay with that if it means somebody is paying attention to the more important stuff.

One of my kids lives within the potential flood zone of the Oroville Dam, and apparently it was known that the dam spillways were sketchy but the work required to upgrade them kept getting put off.

Somebody described the U.S.A. as a perpetually developing nation having little in common with "first world" nations. I see that every day. There's a large homeless encampment within walking distance of my house along a creek that's usually a trickle of water. This last winter the creek turned into a raging torrent and first responders and volunteers were out evacuating people and looking for anyone who might have been washed away as they slept. Does shit like that happen in places like Norway or Sweden? Or Canada?

[kimbutgar]

15. Was in Italy and Germany in March

Great train systems, public transportation, well maintained roads and the airports I traveled though, Munich, Brussels, Frankfurt and even Venice were really nice, upgraded, modern and a nice place to wait for your next flight. In some of them they even had lounge chairs you could put your legs up. The only one that was so so was in Florence and that reminded me of some US airports.

[lanlady]

16. Our airports are an international embarrassment

--with a few exceptions such as National in DC, which is nicely maintained (albeit a very boring place).

A pet peeve of mine is that our airport signage is all in English. We can't even be bothered to put up signs in Spanish. At LGA not long ago, I was having trouble finding my way to the car rental counters (in fact they are located two bus rides' away from the terminal, very inconvenient). You really had to HUNT for the signs. I wondered, what do our international visitors with no English do? There is no help or consideration for them. There is no help or consideration for the elderly or people with less than perfect vision. What a damn disgrace. THere is no excuse.

[mainer]

17. OMG Atlanta airport is decrepit

Nothing like the gleaming airports in China.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. Try Comparing It To Newark

I don't travel for work anymore, but that place was a dump in the early 80's and never got better.

[WinkyDink]

18. Yes! My husband and I once drove behind a road repair vehicle in Germany. It rolled out the macadam

or whatever it was like it was rolling out dough---smooth, without breaks. And traffic flow was controlled by, get this, portable timed traffic lights, not a man with a 2-sided sign.

[sinkingfeeling]

19. Yes. Just ride a train in any European country and compare to Amtrak.

[TeamPooka]

34. or the subway in a place like Sydney Australia where it is fantastic and clean.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

24. As I type this. I'm late to work yet again because the piece of shit L in Chicago is

fucking up yet again. Last week I flew back from Paris where the metro system had trains showing up every 2 minutes on the dot. USA! USA! USA!!!

[SweetieD]

25. Yeah the Midwest and south are particularly bad. Also a lot of places along Mid-Atlantic.

And I have traveled a lot in western Europe. We do need serious attention to infrastructure. But we need a serious president and congress to get it done.

[redstatebluegirl]

26. Yes it is terrible!

When we go to see family in Nebraska we always talk about how good the roads used to be in Kansas and Nebraska and now they are horrible. City streets are full of potholes and cracks. I don't even want to talk about Oklahoma roads, we live in a third world country here.

[atreides1]

27. Yes

I was in Tucson last year, and the some of the roads are in the same state of disrepair as they were, when I traveled there in 2013 and again in 2015! Why did I notice, because it's the same roads!!

[lunasun]

28. I have a friend who came back from a large city in China . He said when he stepped off the plane

he felt he was in a third world country after his visit.
Someone in our group said China?
No he said
"I meant when I came back to the US ! "

[Duppers]

31. Shanghai is amazing.

Beijing not so much. Pollution there choked me up.

[lunasun]

32. I was in Shanghai about 15 yrs ago and it was like being in a future time in some of the parts of

the city even back then. Not the same out in some of the old neighborhoods but I heard now so many of those old parts of Shanghai are gone , bulldozed and rebuilt all new too.
I'm from an older , but always building new stuff, big city ( Chicago ) but just the ride on the expressway from the Pudong airport to the area I was visiting blew me away back then , compared to say a ride from Ohare on the Kennedy or Lake Shore Drive here

[HughBeaumont]

29. Public Transit in Canada vs Public Transit in America.

Like night and day.

Example - my French is awful, yet I found Montreal's STM quite easy to operate and navigate. It was very widespread and accommodating. Toronto's TTC is amazing as well.

DC's would be great if it weren't under constant maintenance. Cleveland's Rapid . . . . ugh, the less said about that horrid belch of a system (which hasn't been updated since the Stokes administration), the better.

[lunasun]

33. Yes Canada has some great public transportation.. Coming from Chicago I am used to public but

have been disappointed on many domestic US vacations with public transport be it sparse schedules, short runs or incomplete systems etc.

our stations here are slowly getting revamped

[HughBeaumont]

35. I like the CTA.

Going to be experiencing lots of it next week at RiotFest!

Cleveland's Rapid . . . it's a dingy, piss-reeking nastiness resembling some creaky, grey, poorly-lit movie dystopian train. I'm literally surprised it's not used as zombie movie scenery. You want sparse runs and not enough cars . . .

[lunasun]

36. Yes in so many cities either old dystopia or in some places new light rails to nowwhere

that stop running after dinner
Awesome flashback lineup on Fri
NIN, new order , ministry , Buzzcocks

Bring a jacket been cool here

[procon]

30. The US has no long term infrastructure plan or policy for the future.

While other industrial countries look to build for future population demands on infrastructure, the US is still using JIT (Just In Time) practices that only builds to meet minimal current needs. That's why we see more repairs than rebuilds. This short sided thinking takes the easier path just to pass funding legislation for repetitive small incremental patch work to the infrastructure, rather than get a bill for a massive public works project.

It comes down to how we let government budget tax money, if the TPTB continue to pour money into the military, bigger foreign wars, tax cuts for the rich, more corporate welfare perks, and useless border walls, there will never be money available to rebuild the nation's infrastructure to meet future needs.

What are the citizen's priorities? Do we want a good transportation system from roads to ports, reliable water and power grids, or do we really want another war, a wall or wealthy bonuses?