Disasters Waiting To Happen

All over the country, the need for repairs on our levees, highways, bridges, dams, and ports are growing rapidly. In California especially, levees are deteriating and could create a problem similar to the levees in New Orleans. And every year there are 13,000 highway fatalities caused by inadequet highway maintenance. But the government budget is cutting the money needed for these repairs. The American Society of Civil Engineers states that $1.6 trillion has to be spent in the next five years to prevent further deterioration, but only $900 billion is set aside. It is expensive to repair or rebuild infrastructure to protect the public, but it is simply cost-verses-benefit. But, benefits that rarely occur are not thought of. For example, better levees in New Orleans capable of withstanding a hurricane like Katrina is not counted because such storms are fairly rare. Although it is a risk to put so much money into such projects, it could really pay off later. There are many problems with our public infrastructure that need fixed, and if they were fixed, maybe it would have prevented a disaster later on.