Forget what you think you know about the United States’ crumbling infrastructure. The simple truth is that the American public highway system has been steadily improving for at least two decades — at least according to David Hartgen, Emeritus Transportation Professor at UNC Charlotte . . . .
Still, Hartgen’s report says that while some states are continuing to improve their highways, problems seem to cluster in a small group of states: California, Alaska, Rhode Island and New Jersey are among the worst for public highway systems. The difference between these two groups?
“A focus on early maintenance,” said Hartgen. Repairing already-existing infrastructure early and often ensures that states ultimately spend less overall because the damage is less extreme.
And because of the importance of early maintenance, said Hartgen, state politicians need to learn to “just say no” to new projects that areas say they need for their economic development and instead push the money toward improving already-existing infrastructure.
(Source: The HuffingtonPost, click here for complete story and slide show of the 20 worst states)