The Irrationality Of Federal Infrastructure Spending

Charles Marohn believes that the way the US manages its infrastructure spending is problematic He finds that the lack of federal support for maintenance leads states to irrationally prioritize new projects over repairing old.

1 minute read

November 3, 2011, 1:00 PM PDT

By George Haugh


Put simply, maintenance is a local issue. Marohn cites the example of his home state of Minnesota, which has more than 1000 deficient bridges in need of significant rehabilitation or replacement. Federal infrastructure money only comes in large quantities for new construction. If Minnesota passes up on the chance to build a new bridge for $670 (while maintaining all 1,149 deficient bridges would cost $500) that money would simply go to another state.

Therefore, politicians, for whom new construction projects aid re-election campaigns, are incentivized to seek new projects at the expense of future generations who will have to foot the repair bills.

Monday, October 24, 2011 in Strong Towns Blog

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