wakeflood
Well JD, I’m not so sure you can extrapolate your theory to cover virtually every other city/state in the union. This isn’t a local phenomenon. It’s national.
And it should be noted that NOTICING the issue isn’t new either (studies have been out for 15+ yrs.)and it AIN’T just bridges fer goodness sake. Our electrical grid is an antiquated cluster, our internet infrastructure is about as good as most 2nd tier countries, etc., etc.
The simple fact is, we do everything related to infrastructure piecemeal and on an emergency only basis. We haven’t done a federally coordinated major infrastructure project since the Interstate Hwy System in the 50’s/60’s.
Here’s a possible causal relationship: Substantially reduced Federal matching funds. Remember those? Gee, I think they helped fund TONS of state-level projects to the tune of 50%, sometimes more. That must have become an unpopular place to put federal funding. Wiser folks chose the B-1 bomber, and Missle Defense, etc…