Every day millions of Americans commute using cars and other forms of transportation, and this traffic puts a tremendous strain on the nation's infrastructure such as roads, bridges and overpasses. People notice potholes and cracks in the roads, but what they do not realize is that America's infrastructure is at risk of becoming completely deficient. Every four years the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) creates a national infrastructure report card. In 2012, ASCE gave America's bridges a grade of C+ and roads a D (American Society of Civil Engineers). America's infrastructure problem is growing and will not stop growing until something is done about it. Politicians once again cannot seem to agree on a solution and nothing is being done about this growing issue. America's infrastructure must be repaired as soon as possible because it is the nation's backbone, and without strong and reliable roads and bridges, the functionality of the nation will suffer and lives will be lost. The United States is lagging behind countries such as Malaysia and Barbados which are not known for their infrastructure (Lane).  Most people agree that the infrastructure needs to be updated but no one can agree how to fix the problem, whether it be by increasing taxes or more government funding.

Each state is responsible for the upkeep of their infrastructure, they raise money through taxes and federal grants.  Up keeping infrastructure is more difficult for poorer and they cannot keep their infrastructure as well maintained as wealthier states. Natural disasters also can ruin the infrastructure of a region. For example, in 2015 South Carolina experienced record flooding that decimated the midland's infrastructure. Even before the flood, the state's infrastructure struggled greatly: it is estimated that 20% of the state's 8,300 bridges are either structurally deficient or structurally obsolete, it is also estimated that an increase of 500 million dollars per year would be necessary to repair the roads (Lieb & Collins). The big problem with South Carolina is that the state relies almost entirely on its gas tax to fund road repairs and maintenance, but this method is insufficient because the last time there was a gas tax increase in the state of South Carolina was in 1987 (Lieb & Collins). Governor Nikki Haley has proposed a bill that would allot more of the state's budget to infrastructure repair and upkeep. Several ideas were brought up during the legislative assembly to help repair the roads, all of which were solutions; for example: reforming the agency in charge of road spending, raising the gas tax, and lowering other taxes to offset the higher price at the pump (Self). However, no one could agree as to which plan was better and resulted in no bill being passed. As previously mentioned, the biggest problem with fixing the infrastructure statewide and nationwide is getting politicians to agree on a solution. Due to the severity of the flooding, the state may be looking at hundreds of millions in additional spending to repair the infrastructure damaged by the flood waters. The federal government will send aid money to the state to help in the rebuilding process as it usually does after natural disasters, however the state must also pay for a portion of the repairs and the big issue is where will South Carolina get the extra money to help pay for the rebuilding process (Lieb & Collins) Something will need to be done soon about the infrastructure or else the state's capital city will be crippled for an elongated period of time.

To rebuild and repair the nation's roads and bridges, the funding necessary must come from somewhere. State legislators must find a way to create plans that will redirect funding from other areas or pass bills that will increase taxes. Some other states such as Vermont have found a solution to this problem by raising its gas tax by 6 cents per gallon in 2013 in order to match a federal grant (Lieb & Collins). Failing infrastructure is not acceptable, especially in a country that is regarded as a world standard for wealth and prosperity. However, some people would argue that there is not really an infrastructure crisis and that the "crisis" is caused by poor money management. Heywood Sander, a professor of public administration at the University of Texas. He believes that states misspend their money and he uses the city of St. Louis as an example, saying that the city authorized an expansion of its convention center at a cost of $120 million and also spent $60 million dollars on a new football stadium (Sanders 14-15). The city of St. Louis could have easily spent that money on other things such as road and bridge repairs. However, to say that an infrastructure crisis does not actually exist is simply ridiculous. The ASCE does not only evaluate a single city, is a representation of the whole country, so either every state is misspending its money or there is actually some sort of crisis going on that needs to be resolved. Patrick Brennan, a writer for National Review, writes in an article that the infrastructure crisis is a fictitious idea that liberals have devised to increase government spending, he does however acknowledge that the infrastructure is not in the best shape it could be in but that no significant action should be taken because it still gets the job done for now (Brennan). The problem with this theory is that even if the infrastructure at this instant of still getting the job done it needs to be maintained and properly funded in order to avoid an even bigger crisis in 20 or 30 years when the infrastructure starts to falls even further behind.

In the past few years America has begun to experience increasing amounts of bridge collapses and road failure. These events can be caused by excessive rain which can weaken a structure's foundation or simply by the age of the structure and the amount of wear it has endured over the years. The most recent bridge collapse was in January where a bridge collapsed and killed a construction worker, another terrifying collapse happened last July where a bridge on I-10 collapsed critically injuring a motorist and shutting down the major highway for several days (Swearingen). The big issue here is that these events will become increasingly common as the infrastructure continues to age and weaken, that is why it is crucial to find a way to set political opinions aside and come together to create a good long term solution to this problem before more lives are senselessly lost. Michael Strain wrote an article about how the government could devise a plan to repair the infrastructure while keeping the support of the Republican Party which tends to be scared off by the infrastructure issue. He stated that the construction projects should be carefully prioritized with the more important coming first, and that individual states and towns should prioritize the projects because they know what needs to be done locally (Strain). He also discusses how the states should closely monitor projects being taken on by the private sector to ensure that they are being completed in the shortest time possible and at the lowest possible expense (Strain). Another issue with developing a solution is that Americans tend to not care about an issue until it impacts them, only after the issue hinders their daily life they become involved and are motivated to do something about the issue. "When the pain gets bad enough, people will support change" (Kanter). This is the sad truth, not enough people are aware that the nation's backbone is crumbling all around them Citizens are also generally unwilling to pay increased taxes on gas or road usage. What they do not realize is that states get money to fund infrastructure such as roads and bridges from taxes, perhaps a campaign to raise public awareness about this issue could help the public realize that the tax increases and other government initiatives are justified. 

Another alarming truth about this issue is that the United States' economy is directly related to infrastructure. If the companies cannot ship and deliver goods in a reasonable amount of time, the productivity of the nation will drop (Powell). It is crucial to keep roads and bridges in good repair to keep trucks from having to take longer routes which would disrupt the country's supply chain. The time to resolve this issue is now, not in 50 years when everything begins to fail all at once. A short documentary by CBS called "America's Failing Infrastructure" is about the state of America's infrastructure and shows the impact that infrastructure used day by day is taken for granted until it is suddenly taken away. The video shows the Lake Champlain Bridge which spans from New York to Vermont that was closed in 2009 on 10 minute notice after an underwater inspection showed that the bridge was too dangerous to be used. The film shows the importance of infrastructure through a man named Mike Sweeny, a delivery man that lives in New York but works in Vermont. Since the closure of the bridge, he has to row across the lake to get to work. This goes to show that all of the infrastructure is taken for granted until it is lost, and this loss of infrastructure will continue to increase if nothing is done about it soon. Bridges and roads are aging quickly because most of them have not been replaced since they were first built. Another factor to consider is inclement weather since it is mostly unpredictable and can strike at any time, and if the infrastructure is not strong, it stands the chance of being damaged or completely destroyed. The risks of inclement weather will continue to increase as climate change will make sea levels rise which will be a major hazard for seaside infrastructure (Mastroianni). Take South Carolina as an example, the recent flooding caused the closure of about 260 roads and 150 bridges (Lieb & Collins) These closures disrupted everyday commutes as well as emergency services such as paramedics and police which is a big problem.

Legislators need to come together for the greater good of society because it is important to resolve this issue that impacts every aspect of life. Without strong reliable infrastructure, life would change drastically. It is important for governors to propose bills to reform the budget. One example of this is Governor Nikki Haley's proposed bill because she wanted to raise the state's gas tax by 10 cents per gallon and in exchange lower the income tax from 7 percent to 5 percent. The problem with her proposal is that it relied on strong economic growth over the next few years and it also tied in a major tax reform with infrastructure which scared many politicians away (Self 1). This bill would have revolutionized the infrastructure spending for South Carolina, and the public would have saved a lot of money due to the 2 percent decrease in income tax. Had Haley's bill been passed, the state's budget for roads and bridges would have increased from $400 million to $1.5 Billion (Self). It is crucial for similar bills to be proposed because South Carolina is in dire need of increased infrastructure funding.

Another issue with reforming infrastructure legislation not only in South Carolina but nationwide is that there will always be some that oppose the bill. For example Senator Tom Davis from South Carolina filibustered an infrastructure spending bill because he was opposed to the tax increase; however he still wanted the state to increase spending. If the state increases spending on infrastructure but does not get any revenue, then the state will inevitably end up in a financial crisis (Self). Another example of progress is that Congress authorized a transfer of money from the United States Treasury' general fund to the federal highway fund (Golson).  The reality is if politicians cannot agree on a plan of action soon, then the citizens will be the ones to pay for their leaders' shirking their responsibilities and failing to reach a compromise. However, a good sign of progress is that even if the South Carolina legislation has yet to create a final solution and that Congress is starting to add funding, it shows that the issue is not being ignored and the government is trying to do something about nation's decrepit infrastructure. 

The state of the nation's infrastructure will continue to deteriorate if nothing is done about it. The last two report cards issued by the ASCE have been identical, showing no progress over four years. This is very alarming because there is so much road work going on that it leads one to wonder, are they even working on the right thing? Instead of focusing on making highways wider and building new garages and stadiums, why not just repair and maintain the infrastructure that is already in place? Instead of building a new bridge, they should simply fix the bridges that are already there for a fraction of the cost. Infrastructure poses several different problems and brings up the one thing all Americans are weary of: tax increases. No one wants tax increases and that would not be a problem currently if the government had been more diligent with their upkeep of the infrastructure. The government was basically procrastinating and putting off the fact that eventually they would need to do something about the infrastructure. All of the damage and wear has accumulated like homework that has been put off until the last minute and needs to be completed virtually overnight. This country has a lower infrastructure grade than much poorer and less industrialized countries because Americans take the luxury of highways and bridges for granted without noticing how much money and work is necessary to bring it up to par with the other industrialized countries. To put this into perspective, the CBS video "America's Failing Infrastructure". China spends approximately 7 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on infrastructure while America spends only a mere 2 percent of its GDP. Something needs to be done about this problem now, not a few years down the road when it gets even worse, because when it gets worse it will only require more money and be even harder to come to a consensus about what needs to be done. Infrastructure is what keeps this country together and without it life simply would not be the same. The time to act was 20 years ago and now society is starting to feel the results of the neglect that has impacted the infrastructure, something must be done about this issue now before the state of the nation's infrastructure becomes increasingly deficient and dangerous.

