[Source: Nate Berg, Planetizen] — In this piece from Citiwire, Jonathan D. Miller argues that infrastructure and the economy are not islands. Improving the nation’s infrastructure, he says, will improve the economy.
“In fact, a retooled national infrastructure will be an essential part of the solution to maintaining our economic clout and future prosperity, while providing the needed stimulus of a near-term jobs engine.”
“The challenges are huge: Our once-vaunted interstate system is overwhelmed by traffic around major gateway cities and along truck corridors. Our metro regions lack public transit systems robust enough to tame oil consumption and sustain future growth. The nation has literally zero high-speed rail lines and may need four or more major new airports. Major East and West coastal ports have turned into huge bottlenecks and our national freight shipping network needs radical upgrading. Chronic traffic jams, lost time, higher driving, and logistics costs can only get worse as the U.S. population expands by an expected 100 million people between now and 2040.”
Downtown Voices Coalition 