OPINION: America’s Infrastructure Now Ranked 16th In The World

Our nation’s infrastructure is crumbling. 

The Sherman Minton Bridge that spans the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky was shut down last Friday due to safety concerns after cracks were discovered in the bridge’s load-bearing parts. The Sherman Minton Bridge is just one of several bridges in danger of collapsing –- As the American Society of Civil Engineers points out, 34% of all the bridges in Kentucky are considered “structurally deficient.” 

Of course – Kentucky is the home state of Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell – who opposed increased infrastructure spending in the 2009 stimulus bill – opposed it again when Republicans blocked a jobs bill in 2010 – and threw cold water last week on President Obama’s “American Jobs Act” that includes billions in transportation infrastructure products.  According to a study by the Urban Land Institute – our nation’s infrastructure needs $2 trillion worth of repairs.

And America’s infrastructure now ranks 16th in the world according to the World Economic Forum.  Yet another consequence of 30 years of Ronald Reagan’s “starve the beast” economics.