Infrastructure, particularly roads and bridges, gets taken for granted. This critical foundation goes unnoticed until it fails; the Interstate 35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota that killed 13 people and injured 145, is a tragic reminder. Aging and underfunded infrastructure like canals, pipelines, municipal water mains, and wastewater treatment systems are strained to capacity, while upgrades and repairs get tied up in funding concerns.
The primary source of funding for roads and bridges is the federal motor tax on gasoline, currently at 18.4 cents per-gallon. This amount hasn't changed since 1993 and is not indexed to inflation, its value paying for only half of what it once did. The growing fuel efficiency of cars and use of hybrid and electric vehicles threaten gas consumption, which makes this funding unreliable. A discussion on how to resolve this issue should be had before tragedy compels people to notice.
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