Jobs in Infrastructure

What's preventing us from creating jobs and preserving our infrastructure? Take roads, for example.

We may accept either premise: (A) Road construction is underfunded and we create patch work (filling pot holes, etc., as needed. If this is true, then - ineffeicincies at best but more likely - extreme waste is built into this module. Ever wonder why the Department of Transportation (DOT) is more inclined to do the work when pressured?

Take potholes for example.You've seen trucks with a two to three person crew as they've filled potholes. And then, they transport to another area, 20 miles away, fill another hole and they're off to across town, tommorrow. Isn't there something wrong with the logistics here?

Someone asked why can't they just finish one area, right, and them move on to the next. Shame on you. The answer should be obvious.....because it works, that's why they don't do it, efficiently. They work for the government. That's why they waste.

Back to the point; consider optin B.

(B) Money is wasted and transportation is overfunded. We may go so far as to use stereotypes in our expression. Example: Four workers standing along side the road while one is working. Of course, that has never happened.

And then there are the facts.

According to Brian Dolan, president of the Maryland Asphalt Association (and we're paraphrasing): In the early 1990s the U.S. congress along with the DOT plannned for and funded ISTEA (Tntermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act). This bill help produce annual federal highway spending in excess of twenty bilion dollars.
See Maryland Asphalt Association at http://www.mdasphalt.org

Whether we approach from either perspective(to repair or to prevent), each side, congress and DOT agree that prevention is under funded. If underfunded, the public is underserved.

Underfunded? What happened to the thirty billion dollars ($30 billion)?

What thrity billion? you might ask.

In the early 1990s the U.S. congress along with the DOT created ISTEA with a six year authorization saw annual federal hiighway spending in the $20 billion dollar range.

The last federal gas tax increase was successful creating a surplus in the
federal transportation trust fund. This tax created an enormus surplus, but congress spent this trust fund money....some thirty billion dollars.

In the back door, stood the Surface Transportation Fund created to fund highway preservation. These funds can be easily used for other purposes. The construction of a socially productive non-profit organization that can produce income through a civic function; for example a museum, a zoo, a piece of art, etc. is more likely to receive funding than an open pot hole.

Jaguar's position is, why not create jobs by spending less on organizations created by congress and the DOT and rebbuild our roads and bridges that are destined to collapse affecting transportation as we know it for many years to come; doing so will help create jobs and induce consumer spending.


To JUST SAY NO to sound business practices will not.