Dan Cody

Dan,

This is a bad example, if there is actually a “crumbling infrastructure” in Milwaukee. EVERY year cold weather cities like Milwaukee see pot holes, sink holes and other road “issues”. So, bottom line this is not indicative of not enough money for infrastructure, but par for the course in the Milwaukee’s, Chicago’s and Cleveland’s of the world….

And the Marquette Interchange serves as a tangible reminder that the infrastructure in Milwaukee and across America is in great shape and not in need of serious care.

dmrsilva,

Most people will recognize the difference between being able to quickly pass through or around a city and being able to easily and safely travel within that city. Your point proves nothing in regard to the premise of the original post

Dan, ok lets accept your premise that pot holes in Milwaukee prove our infrastructure is crumbling. (side note: What do brand new empty MPS buildings prove?) Back to the original point. Very little of the Obama pork fiesta is going toward infrastructure. That is the sell job, like calling social security a retirement fund is a sell job. But for arguments sake, lets say 100 percent of the “stimulus” is for infrastructure. Are you saying that that will be the end of sink holes in Milwaukee?

djjfricks – if it’s okay for someone to make a sweeping generalization about America’s infrastructure based on a 30′ segment of a city street, wouldn’t it be okay for someone else to also make a sweeping generalization about America’s infrastructure based on a 1/4 square mile segment of our interstate system?

Neither generalization is correct! While some segments of our infrastructure may be in need of replacement or repair, many parts are new and will be servicable for many years.

Don’t use scare tactics like “the infrastructure in Milwaukee and across America is in terrible shape” as an excuse to go out and spend money that we don’t have and don’t need.

Dan, if Doyle would quite raiding the tranportation fund to support his lefty programs, we would have plenty of money for infrastructure. How is it that a state with the highest gas tax in the country is in such disrepair. And quit selling the Obama pork boondoggle as an infrastructure fix. The vast majority of this monopoly money is not going to fix roads and bridges. And now that your party has forced this on us, what is your concern? Pot holes, sink holes, and aging bridges are soon to be a thing of the past, right?

I’d agree that bandaids are terrible, but the alternative is to completely rip up the stretch of freeway and/or street and repave. Eventually that can and will happen, but it’s got to be a rolling effort. What I mean by that is not every street in Milwaukee (or any city for that matter) can be fixed all at one time. They, as I’m sure you know, need to prioritized based on needs. In the meantime, bandaids are the only solution.

My first thought, when building these roads or when they are slated for a complete repaving, is to pave them in concrete and not asphalt. This constant dumping of hot asphalt (making a mogul run out of our County streets) to solve what was a bad street project to begin with (asphalt)is annoying and detrimental to my car. You’re right Dan, that stretch on State Street between 55th and 72nd is brutal, even after they repaved it…..Eeesh!

When hasn’t our infrastructure been crumbling? I’ve been hearing the phrase “crumbling infrastructure” since the Johnson administration.

Of course, the Milwaukee infrastructure is always crumbling, given our miserable freeze/thaw winters and the indiscriminate use of road salt.

Good point BonyT. If our honorable Governor had not misappropriated transportation funds to cover the giant holes in his budgets, there would be plenty of money to repair roads. It would also seem that fixing potholes and repairing bridges will do little to stimulate jobs. Road builders have always been well funded by government, and it is unlikely that they will see a great need for massive new hiring in order to line their pockets with the big stimulus kiss they got from President Obama.

The issue is easier to quantify. From the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure:

Aviation: D
Bridges: C
Dams: D
Drinking Water: D-
Energy: D+
Hazardous Waste: D
Inland Waterways: D-
Levees: D-
Public Parks & Recreation: C-
Rail: C-
Roads: D-
School: D
Solid Waste: C+
Transit: D
Wastewater: D-

Highest grade: C+. Overall grade: D.

My question to the naysayers on this board is two-fold:

1) How do you expect America to compete on a global stage with an infrastructure like this?

and

2) How do you propose that we fix this since so many of you are dead-set against any investment in these areas?

Ok, so those grades are in comparison to what? I’m not sure what agenda ASCE had for the list (Will they benefit from the stimulus?), but clearly it used unattainable standards. D- on drinking water? Reality check. More than half the people on earth (3+ billion) have unsafe drinking water and sanitary facilities. Of the rest, only one quarter (1.5 billion) have a safe, sufficient, and secure supply. A D- is clearly ridiculous. Same goes for waste water, aviation, energy, heck, that whole list is silly. Compared to the US, the rest of the world runs well behind in infrastructure. Travel the globe a bit and I suggest that upon your return you will be relatively pleased with what you consider crumbling infrastructure.

As for patching the potholes… perhaps we could create a usage based tax and apply that money solely to road repair. How about a gas tax? We could put it in a transportation fund and agree to use it only for roads, Hm.

@The Family Guy: How very revealing that you now hold up the Third World as a yardstick to measure the progress of America.

Perhaps your attitude can spawn a new Republican Party Slogan: “U-S-A!! We’re Not Somalia!!!”"

Nice redirect and dodge David.

So answer the question posed. By what standard do we judge our infrastructure as a D-. If we are a D-, then please explain what you consider to be an A+. Oh, and try to do it without slinging silly labels and making ludicrous comparisons.

David V.

Overall [infrasturcture] grade: D

Ohmigod, we’re all going to die! Everything, everthing is crumbling! There’s not enough money in the world to repair everything listed.

For the record, Family Guy, even with your generous layer of sanctimonious condescension applied, I still find your juxtaposition of the United States with the 3+ billion third world inhabitants to be utterly asinine and completely fatuous.

What’s fascinating about you and your conservative brethren is just how quickly and callously you can dismiss the collective opinions of highly educated professionals with only a cursory glance, yet you cling vociferously to the oratory of right-wing pundits as if it flows from the mouth of Almighty God Himself.

So consider dropping the “blog post cop” act, OK? Your self-aggrandizing pronouncements about what can and can’t be posted don’t work here.

Later…

Damn David, that’s a hell of a dictionary and thesaurus set-up you’ve got there. It almost made me forget that you still can’t answer the question. I love being told to blindly believe the experts because clearly they are the only ones wise enough to understand the complicated nature of the world. No matter how ridiculous the notions espoused by the “experts”, we must base policy on them… be it global warming, renewable energy, or infrastructure.

Often, after the fall, we find out that they were really not experts at all, just partisan hacks, self styled know-it-alls, or just people with a personal agenda.

Ok, so have a go at thinking for yourself david. Without falling back on your experts, explain to me how you figure that US infrastructure is a D-. Give er a try, maybe you will surprise yourself.

“Thinking for myself”? A member of the Syked-out-Coalition-of-the-Easily-Led is lecturing me on the virtues of “thinking for myself”?

Surely, you jest, Family Guy.

Ok David. I shall assume that you have no real thoughts of your own on this point as you have balked three times at an answer.

It is, however, interesting that you assume any opposition to the Democrat infrastructure talking points must come from a mind numbed robot. All you yourself have offered is someone else’s thoughts on the matter, and you are not even able to entertain the slightest question of the issue. I really had no idea that this had been discussed in the media, but in your blind fear of opposing thought, I suppose you had no choice but to fall back on slogans. And I am easily led? Now that is amusing.