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Deferred Maintenance

I once worked at a public university that had a huge 'deferred maintenance' problem. Their major equipment was often 35 years old with an expected lifetime of 30 years. As a result, they were constantly doing repairs and paying overtime, but had little time to do preventive maintenance and little money to make pro-active investments in new equipment. In one dorm, water from bad showers on the upper floors started leaking into the main lobby, and the 'fix' was to drag out garbage cans to catch the water. I was told that repairing the plumbing itself was expensive so it was being figured into the "five-year budget plan." The garbage can fix went on for at least a year.


A two-page spread in The Atlantic Monthly (March 2008, p 38-39) calls out our nation's growing infrastructure problem. This is a real 'tragedy of the commons' situation: individuals are not willing to give up more tax money if they don't see a real-time, personal benefit. At the same time, the costs of poor infrastructure are growing. As we fall behind the curve, more money will go to waste and repair and less to investment, a dangerous spiral.
Infrastructure would be a great question for a Presidential debate. How will we compete with foreign countries where transportation is relatively cheap and easy? As the Atlantic article states, "Arriving at Shanghai's modern Pudong airport, you can hop aboard a maglev train that gets you downtown in eight minutes, at speeds approaching 300 miles an hour. When you land at JFK, on the other hand, you'll have to take a train to Queens, walk over an indoor bridge, and then transfer to the antiquated Long Island Rail Road; from there, downtown Manhattan is another 35 minutes away."

America's expansiveness has always been one of our strengths, and has enhanced our lifestyles, productivity growth, and security. That expansiveness can become a burden if the cost of moving people and goods across it is restrictive. The interstate highway system was a phenomenal investment that turned the problem of vast space into an advantage. We now need a modern national cargo rail system, as well as dramatically improved urban transit, or the American expanse will become a burden.

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