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Forums - Politics Discussion - America Needs Updated Infranstructure!

archer9234 on 12 February 2016
SamuelRSmith said:
Roads and bridges are no different to anywhere else in the "first" world. People who tell you otherwise probably haven't been about much.

Public transportation is an area that does need large amounts of improvements. These are often run by cities / states, though. I think many places will be better off by privatising large parts of their public transport network. I'm in NJ/NY area right now, and I certainly think a good case could be made for privatising the PATH and MTA.

Indiana "recently" privatised a large chunk of its road networks, to great success.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGg6w5jA_Tg

Florida is currently having a high-speed rail connection built by a private company, from Miami to Orlando, with some stops in between (potential expansion down the line). 100% privately funded, a first for any rail line in the USA in over a century.

Started construction in 2015, opens in 2017. No cost to taxpayer. Let's compare that to California's highspeed (and Government owned) service, when that finally opens, how long will that take, how much will that cost the tax payer?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Aboard_Florida

Well, NY train lines where owned by different companies, originally. That got phased out.



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sc94597 on 12 February 2016

One thing to consider is that the more recently a country develops the easier it is to have nice infrastructure because they had a better technological foundation to work with, and a stronger labor force. The U.S was one of the first industrialized countries, and consequently must tear down the old before putting in the new. As for transportation, for the country the size of the U.S, with cities all throughout, it makes more sense to have a highway system than a train system. Europe is much more dense than the U.S overall. China's cities are coastal, and Japan is a tiny dense island.

Some state have worst infrastructure than others, but if you look at the best states, that is probably the best one can hope for currently, until new cheaper technologies make it reasonable.