It has been said that our infrastructure should be rated as a D or D-

[Stinky The Clown]

It has been postulated that the cost to restore it to A level will cost over $1T per year for the next five years.

The horrible tragedy in San Bruno is just another symptom.

[truedelphi]

1. Yep, the rating on the natural gas pipelines is atrocious.

Today on CNN, a man from some Gas Association was telling a reporter that if the airline industry was as unsafe as the gas pipe lines, no one would ever fly on commercial planes.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Thank gawd these pipes are safe... they're protected by

saltwater.

[Denninmi]

2. Come to Michigan

And learn what the phrase "rust belt" really means. Our roads are really bad. Our water system in the Detroit system is falling apart. The utilities make big profits but are allowed to get away with shoddy maintenance, end result being 85 separate fires in Detroit during the windstorm wednesday.

John Engler ruled this state like some kind of rethug king for 12 years and left it a tremendous mess. I never understood what people saw in him.

[Fire1]

11. Yeah, the "pillsbury doughboy." I blame his first election on

the lack of push and endorsement of Blanchard by Young. Secondly, his terms were under Clinton and noone really challenged his "end of welfare" campaign and closing of mental institutions. Besides, he "created so many jobs." The fat pig was a corporate thug!!

[gophates]

4. Another wonderful job by the patriotic Thugs who ran thngs.

Friggin bastards.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. In fairness, it took us many decades to get to this point.

My own guess is we were probably at our best in 1960 or so.

[gophates]

13. Who ALWAYS opposes infrastructure projects?

Not the Democrats.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. We have left infrastructure go so long with no upgrades

that this is where we are now. It is a sad commentary on our priorities. They are slowly working on replacing the water lines in my town. They are over 100 years old. Unbelievable that we are receiving water with all the requirements for purity coming out of the plant, just to have it moving through 100 year old pipes.

This is the way the American capitalist system works. From steel mills that were never improved while they were making tons of money to the gas line, water line, and electric grid that is so substandard. And this is what eventually happens---cost of over $5,000,000,000,000.00---incredible.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. Baltimore still has **wooden** water pipes in some parts of the city.

They are, literally, older than the USA. Incredibly, they hold up better than the clay pipes do.

[Curmudgeoness]

9. Wooden pipes--incredible. And holding up better? I can't imagine

how, except that it is better workmanship to start with. How did we ignore this for so long?

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. We are reaching F to be honest

this is the latest of more failures to come.

Don't spend money to take care of it... IT WILL FAIL... and people die when it does that.


On the bright side... failures will take rich and poor alike... because we have not given any maintainace to it anywhere. Yes, the city streets in La Jolla Ca are as bad as oh some places down south of the border...

[MadMaddie]

10. The pipes that failed were 60 years old.

This should be a warning to all major cities and towns.....

Remember the MN bridge failure

Remember the Levees....

This is just the beginning.

[MinneapolisMatt]

12. ...and in the Twin Cities over the last two days...

we had a gas explosion that leveled a house and a pedestrian fell into a sink hole!

[MadMaddie]

16. Damn!

50 billion is not going to be near enough.

[Orsino]

14. Coulda been one of those trillions already spent on wars.

We could already have done this.

[glitch]

17. That was the proposal in 2000, spend the surplus on infrastructure.

The Supremes thought otherwise, road not taken.

[toddwv]

15. The cost of the invasion of Iraq would've nearly paid for 1/2 that.

Thank goodness that the Republicans saw the foresight to send our money to be buried in a desert rather than use to actually benefit Americans.

[area51]

18. +1

Welcome to DU, toddwv.

[BolivarianHero]

22. Not just Repukes

Clinton dropped his fair share of bombs there and plenty of Dems authorised use of force on Iraq.

[Bonobo]

19. NYC still uses steam power! Quaint but wtf!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_steam_system

[Stinky The Clown]

20. Steam systems are in place and in operation in most big cities in the Northeast

It makes a lot of sense. It is very efficient. In many cases, it is a form of true recycling by using waste heat from other processes or burning garbage to generate the steam. The steam in Baltimore burns most of the city's garbage and is award-winningly clean.



(That's a great picture you posted!)

[mike r]

21. The San Bruno pipeline is owned and maintained by PG&E

Most of the oil and gas infrastructure is owned by energy corporations.