Infrastructure Decay and America in the Era of Choices

America has entered an era of choices, yet it seems we are incapable of making them.  From foreign policy to entitlement reforms to investing in infrastructure to flood insurance reforms in coastal areas to climate to change - our polarization and the sense of waywardness and distraction that it produces is killing the American decision making process.  As the middle in "middle class" continues its long decline, we have lost a key societal shock absorber that allowed us to make decisions and get things done.  George Bernard Shaw put it best - "Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve."

No where is the troubling inability to make decisions, choices, and investments in the era of choices more visible than with our public infrastructure (McDonalds is probably second - obesity and the related health care costs and individual choices is more of a national threat than Putin will ever be) .  Even with the aid of asset deterioration graphs and data, we still cannot make sound economic and engineering decisions at critical fork in the road moments for the roads we drive on.

 

New York City and the Center for an Urban Future have produced an excellent 68-page report on critical nature of making decisions in the era of choices - Caution Ahead: Overdue Investments for New York's Aging Infrastructure.  This is the best "our-infrastructure-is-declining-and-in-need-of-investment" report that I have read.  The graph above has two variables - asset condition and asset age.  All asset decline in condition - the "curve of decline" is a function of time that has key decision points and choices once it hits its useful life.  You can either renewal by rehabilitation or replace.  New York City has 1,445 bridges are 63 years old on average, with 165 of them build more than a century ago.  The city has 2,220 miles of water mains - roughly 1/3 of the city's total - are made of unlined cast iron pipe constructed before 1930.  After the deadly gas explosion in New York City last week we should all remember that about 6,300 miles of gas mains are 56 years old, on average.  Constantly making the investment choice to put off infrastructure investment and rehabilitate versus replacement works - but not forever and the longer you forgo the required choices in the era of choices, the more expensive the entire infrastructure system(s) and process becomes.

 

From the report:



"Over 1,000 miles of New York City water mains are more than 100 years old, leading to frequent and disruptive breaks. More than 160 bridges across the five boroughs were built over a century ago, and in 2012 47 bridges were deemed both structurally deficient and fracture critical, a designation engineers use for bridges that have little structural redundancy, making them prone to failure and collapse. The subway’s aging signaling system—with 269 miles of mainline signals exceeding their 50-year useful life—slows the movement of trains and forces maintenance workers to build their own replacement parts because manufacturers no longer make them. Additionally, more than 200 of the city’s public school buildings were built before 1920.

Simply put, too much of the city’s essential infrastructure remains stuck in the 20th Century—a problem for a city positioning itself to compete with other global cities in today’s 21st Century economy.

While the Bloomberg administration increased capital spending significantly and made great strides on a number of important fronts, it put more emphasis on new construction than bringing older assets into a state of good repair. The city Department of Transportation (DOT) fell behind on street repaving, for instance, while the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) lost ground on its own water main replacement targets—even as the city funded the first new water tunnel in nearly a century. Although the School Construction Authority dramatically increased the number of public school seats, the maintenance and repair of many older buildings suffered during this period.

This report finds that city agencies and authorities will have to invest approximately $47.3 billion to maintain the safety and functioning of New York’s infrastructure—leaving a $34.2 billion capital funding gap at the city, Port Authority, New York City Transit, Housing Authority and CUNY over the next five years. This funding gap includes only the replacement and repair of existing infrastructure—not new structures or increased capacity.

To remain a magnet for global businesses and talent, and to ensure the high quality of life current residents have come to expect, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Governor Andrew Cuomo and other government officials will need to make investing in the city’s aging infrastructure a major priority. Although it will not be easy in an era of diminished federal funds, this report outlines several achievable solutions for addressing New York’s critical infrastructure needs."