Golden: The infrastructure imperative

[unhappycamper]

http://www.milforddailynews.com/opinion/20160319/golden-infrastructure-imperative



A photo taken last summershows ongoing repairs to the Longfellow Bridge over the Charles River. Fixing the 110-year-old bridge is projected to cost $225 million.

Golden: The infrastructure imperative
By By Peter Golden
Posted Mar. 19, 2016 at 10:37 PM

The problem is as plain as that traffic jam on the eastbound side of the Massachusetts Turnpike every weekday morning – and on highways and main streets all over MetroWest, Massachusetts and the rest of the country, too. Between congested roadways and poisonous municipal water systems America is falling behind much of the developed world in some of the key metrics that define our quality of life and economic competitiveness.

Bridges are unsafe or collapsing outright. A small one in my hometown has been closed for years and after endless delays, repair work has yet to commence. I recently visited an outdated and shabby MetroWest middle school that would bring a tear to the eye of the most hardened tax cutter. And this is Massachusetts, which supposedly enjoys markedly better public facilities than the rest of the country

Some might have it that “we need to make America great again,” but if you believe as I do that being able to get to work in the morning, drink the water from your faucets and send your kids to an attractive, well-constructed school define the notion of “great,” then it may well be time to get about the work of rebuilding America of we really are to be great again.

The word itself – infrastructure – has all sorts of meanings, but at the most basic level it means the water and sewer systems, municipal buildings, power and communications grids, bridges and highways, railroads, rapid transit systems, airports, seaports and even open space and parklands that in one way or another we all share. Some parts are privately held, but most are public property. Regardless, we all use them.