The way to eliminate potholes, or at least diminish their number, is to keep the roads in good shape, with regular resurfacing. But far less is being done than required. And the same goes for the rest of the infrastructure in the US: not just roads, but ports and airports, bridges, railways and power grids, those boring basics that keep a country running. America, to believe the title of a recent television documentary on the subject, is falling apart \u201d\u201c literally.<\/p>\n
Not so long ago the opposite was true. The US was the shining future that had already arrived. It had the best technology, the most modern cities, the fanciest cars, the most up-to-date airports. The jewel in the crown was the interstate highway system, built in the 1950s and 1960s to knit a continent together.<\/p>\n
Alas, sooner or later, youthful beauty fades. And so it is with America\u2019s infrastructure. Many of those projects date back to the immediate post-war years, even to FDR\u2019s New Deal to counter the Great Depression. More than half a century later, they\u2019re in desperate need of overhaul or replacement.<\/p>\n
Surveys merely confirm America\u2019s relative slide.<\/p>\n