ALEX MARSHALL — Can America send a man to the moon? Check. Build a swift, stealthy bomber that can evade radar in pursuit of enemies? Check. Write creative software that will fish through billions of bytes and pull out relevant few facts? Check.
But can America routinely build light, airy bridges that cross streams or gorges beautifully and sturdily, like Germany? Build high speed train lines like France, or giant gates that shut out the sea, like Holland? Set up a universal tolling system that allows trucks to travel without using toll gates, like Switzerland?
So far, the answer is “No,” or at least, “Not yet.” It’s clear that this country now routinely lags behind Europe and Asia in the construction of advanced infrastructure systems. Americans like to think of their country as excelling in everything, but many of the nation’s roads, bridges and general infrastructure have a kind of crudity that is shocking for such an advanced and rich country. As we continue to think about rebuilding New Orleans, and why the levees there failed, all this is something to think about.
In recent decades, examples of what might be called “our infrastructure gap” have proliferated. It’s no longer a question as to whether we lag behind, but how far. China, still a developing nation, is building a high-speed, high altitude train with a pressurized cabin, like a jet. The Malmo-Copenhagen bridge that arcs from Denmark to Sweden, the Chunnel between England and France, and simply the average automobile tunnel or pedestrian escalator in Western Europe are routinely more refined than in this country. Although we are a wealthy nation, our relatively poor infrastructure systems make the quality of life poorer in many respects for the average citizen.
This is particularly true when disaster strikes. A front page New York Times story on Sept. 21, 2005 by Christopher Drew and Andrew Revkin suggests that the levees failed around New Orleans principally because they were poorly installed and designed, not because of unexpected wind and water. Hurricane Katrina, although a category four to five storm overall, did not directly hit New Orleans and its winds near the levees did not exceed 100 mph, the authors said. Such winds were substantially below the Category 3 specifications of the levees. Although the story was a great example of hard-hitting journalism, the photograph that accompanied it said a lot in even fewer words. A broken concrete flood wall shown next to a canal looked more like sections of the infamous Jersey barriers had been plopped down next to a river bank than an advanced infrastructure system.
If the United States lags in its infrastructure — and to me there is no question that it does — than the natural question is, Why? One reason is that we as a nation resist higher levels of taxation. The percentage of our economy dedicated to government expenditures is among the lowest of any industrialized country. So things are often done on the cheap, if at all, even though this ultimately costs us money. In Louisiana, the failure to spend around $10 billion to strengthen levees and control the Mississippi River means that the federal government is now contemplating spending up to $200 billion to rebuild New Orleans and other affected areas. And this doesn’t include the huge costs that insurance companies and private businesses and residents will incur.
But less taxation isn’t the only reason. A full investigation would delve into things like our procurement systems, which favor the lowest bidder rather than the most skilled. Fitting in with this is a general lack of respect for skilled, blue-collar labor. This shows in our education and training systems. Although this country has probably the best higher education system in the world at the top levels, it’s not as good at churning out highly trained and highly-paid mid level engineers, technicians and skilled laborers that would erect a bridge or build a road or levee. The workers who construct the light airy bridges common around Europe are highly skilled, and highly paid. In the United States the more brutish concrete slab and heavy steel bridges are the default option in part because we choose not to invest in the systems that would create skilled and well-paid workers to erect the alternatives to them.
It appears we are paying a price for our education system and an economy that is tilted toward winner-take-all outcomes. If true, this is sobering because such problems are not changed easily. They take decades to fix. Such questions are of particular concern to the region around New York City, where I work and live. We have the most infrastructure intensive region in the country, and our prosperity depends in the long run on upgrading that infrastructure. Our cities don’t have levees like New Orleans’, although we may need some additional storm protection, but our train system, bridges and water pipes keep our region humming and prosperous and need to be continually maintained and upgraded.