America's Infrastructure Problem

Whenever I make the trip from Sacramento back to my house near the San Joaquin Delta, I cross a rusting, two-lane, covered steel bridge that always seems like it can barely handle the traffic that goes across it. Despite this, this singular road connects the East Bay’s agricultural economy to the Central Valley; if not for this two-lane road, shipments would take many hours longer, communities would be fractured, and negatively impact economic productivity and efficiency.

This is one out of the many stories about America’s broken infrastructure, which are growing more frequent year after year. The infrastructure system that was once the best in the world is now actively falling apart, and yet the root causes are not being addressed. To fully understand this fall from glory and why it is so important for America to invest in its infrastructure, we must examine our historical and political relationship with infrastructure up until the modern period.

Ever since the founding of this country, our government has acknowledged the importance of investing in infrastructure. From the countless roads to the canals connecting cities and ports, it was clear that though many of the framers of the Constitution and the Founding Fathers were very libertarian in their views of how American government should work, there was no confusion that they knew the importance of investing in America’s success through increasing productivity, connectivity, and commerce1.

This topic of funding American infrastructure as a nonpartisan issue was continued up until the early 20th century. During this period, Republicans increasingly became the party of austerity measures, trying to decrease involvement in citizens’ lives. This is a turning point where infrastructure expenditures became co-opted by progressive movements and became an opportunity to put people back to work during the Great Depression.

Why has this problem gotten so bad?

In recent decades, many Republican administrations aimed to defund and cut federal spending, leaving much of the American infrastructure underfunded. It’s not only that our bridges, highways, and roads, among other things, are starting to collapse, but the outdated and anti-social nature of these new designs is negatively affecting American life.

Not only are States not receiving enough funding to repair their infrastructure, but they are not receiving enough to build new infrastructure. The first thought that comes to mind when someone mentions failed infrastructure projects is usually California’s Bullet train to nowhere. A construction project that broke ground over a decade ago with little results. The fact that this project has taken so long evokes more concerns about how the funding for infrastructure is being handled. With major speculation that state and federal funding is being misappropriated2.

This may be the Republican contention of why they are so unsupportive of public works funding, however, it is no excuse to let America’s infrastructure become the worst in the developed world.

With a lack of modern infrastructure and poor infrastructure conditions, America’s quality of life has declined significantly from its position among other nations of the world during the early 20th century. According to the American Society for Civil Engineers, America’s Infrastructure Report Card reports our infrastructure rating at a C on an A-F scale3. As students at an elite university such as Berkeley, scoring a C on any assignment would be a cause for great concern; we hold ourselves accountable for such a score and try to identify our areas for improvement. Why shouldn’t we tackle our failings in infrastructure any differently as a country?

The citizens of the United States have become more isolated as a people. In Robert D. Putnam’s book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, it describes this exact phenomenon and how the lack of ‘third’ places, defined as places where people spend time between home (‘first’ place) and work (‘second’ place)4. Infrastructure such as Public Transportation and other public facilities act as these ‘third’ places. Third places are important for civic engagement and a sense of place; however, this disconnect from these ‘third’ places decreases the advocacy for infrastructure, as they are no longer seen as places to appreciate but merely objects in an urban landscape. To put this simply, public infrastructure is not being used to its fullest potential, and therefore is not a space that people congregate around.

When we compare our infrastructure to that of governments abroad, we are at a large disadvantage in harnessing our productivity due to our underdeveloped infrastructure. It is embarrassing that even our main adversary, China, has had a significant infrastructural revolution in just the past 30 years. Since then, China has increased its infrastructure investment from 69.7 billion yuan to 1,467.8 billion yuan (21 times)5, created a 45,000 km High-Speed Rail system6, and achieved ~100% electricity access7. Even my grandparents in a rural village in Jiangxi Province, China, which was previously inaccessible by car, have had roads built in the past 5 years.

This is compared to our growth, which is 1/10th of China’s nominal growth rate, meagrely expanding our highways by 0.3 million miles8, our railroads have shrunk by 28,000 miles9, and only increasing our high-speed rail system by about 600 miles9. It is easy to see why China has made such a large economic jump compared to the United States, it can be partially attributed to how much easier it is to move goods across the country and get people to their offices and workplaces. Furthermore, they’ve used the same strategy that Franklin D. Roosevelt did during the Great Depression. During economic downturns for the Chinese Economy, the CCP doubles down on infrastructure, puts people back to work, and invests in its society, which helps them bounce back from depressions and recessions with more vigor.

Even compared to the European Union, our main ally, we see that they’ve had a larger growth in highway road mileage, maintained their railroad mileage, and have dominated in High-Speed rail development.

Imagine a future America where people can commute from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where bridges and highways can handle traffic, and where productivity is harnessed. It may be hard for democrats to conceptualize an America that is receptive to this, we must work towards the solutions to the problems that are currently plaguing our progress. We must hold our government accountable and lobby for increased infrastructure funding, and make the benefits known.

To transform American infrastructure, we need to reimagine how infrastructure projects are financed and approved. A first step would be creating a National Infrastructure Bank that would depoliticize funding and enable long-term planning. Much like China has paired state-led investment with private sector collaboration, this bank could provide low-interest loans to local municipalities and states, which would accelerate projects that have long been stuck in the pipeline due to inconsistent funding. But funding isn’t enough alone— we must streamline the approval process of these infrastructure projects. While environmental protection must remain a cornerstone of any project, the reality is that our current permitting system often slows progress unnecessarily. Creating a new government agency review process with set timelines and centralized documentation would reduce bureaucratic delays and maintain safeguards.

At the same time, we must invest in public transportation and smart infrastructure—the kinds of systems that improve daily life, create opportunity, and connect communities. Cities and towns across the country deserve reliable transit options, from electric buses to regionally connected rail systems that provide real alternatives to car dependency. America should integrate technology directly into the infrastructure we build, create roads embedded with sensors, bridges with structural health monitors, and traffic systems that adjust to congestion. We must create infrastructure designed not just to last, but to adapt. We owe it to ourselves to move forward into the 21st century.

Footnotes

1. John F. Wasik, Lincolnomics: How President Lincoln Constructed the Great American Economy (New York: Diversion Books, 2021).

2. California High-Speed Rail Authority, "About California High-Speed Rail," accessed June 2, 2025, https://hsr.ca.gov/about/high-speed-rail-authority/.

3. American Society of Civil Engineers, 2025 Infrastructure Report Card, accessed June 2, 2025, https://infrastructurereportcard.org/.

4. Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000).

5. CEIC Data, "China Total Inland Transport Infrastructure Investment," accessed June 2, 2025, https://www.ceicdata.com/en/china/transport-infrastructure-investment.

6. China State Council Information Office, "China's Operating High-Speed Railway Hits 45,000 km," January 9, 2024, https://english.scio.gov.cn/chinavoices/2024-01/09/content_116928609.htm.

7. "How Xi Sparked China's Electricity Revolution," Financial Times, May 10, 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/f86782fa-9f2e-448a-b710-29e787dc9831.

8. Federal Highway Administration, "Highway Statistics Series," accessed June 2, 2025, https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics.cfm/.

9. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, "Class I Railroad System Mileage and Ton-Miles of Freight 1960-2021," accessed June 2, 2025, https://www.bts.gov/browse-statistical-products-and-data/info-gallery/class-i-railroad-system-mileage-and-ton-miles.