Historic floods in the Midwest put spotlight on America's aging dams - PBS NewsHour

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3. It's no secret that we have aging infrastructure, especially with roads, dams, and public transit systems

According to the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers), as of 2021, 43% of roads are in poor/mediocre condition. There are 30,000 miles of levees, but a third of them are unaccounted for in both location and condition. Of the approximately 617,000 bridges, 42% of them are more than 50 years old. Unfortunately, we haven't really set aside infrastructure improvement as we should. Per GDP on infrastructure spending, we're behind the likes of France, Spain, UK, UAE, Germany, and Japan to name a few. In fact, the US was ranked 13th in 2019.


But Mother Nature ain't waiting for infrastructure repairs. The weather will do whatever it wants, and it is up to us to make sure we are staying ahead of the curve, which we are not. When Hurricane Sandy hit in October 2012, despite the fact it never made landfall in New York City (it hit Brigantine, NJ and Philadelphia was more in the central path), the wind and rain paralyzed the subway system, and New York City has one of the oldest transit systems in the US and is vulnerable to hurricanes. Considering that the US is one of only three countries that have all of the 5 main climate types (Tropical, Arid, Subtropical, Continental, and Tundra/Alpine), the others being China and India, I would think that we would be good at our infrastructure and keep up with it.