If only we had a presidential candidate who ran on a new deal-type of infrastructure plan for the country. If only
That's good to hear that they're making those improvements but these issues should've been addressed earlier following major flooding during Allison 20 years ago. In addition to those improvements the amount of impermeable surface in Houston, and other US cities has to be addressed. The improvements you list are very good but as long as Houston keeps on developing the way it has those too will get overwhelmed.
I agree about your first point. Flood infrastructure should have been invested in many many many years ago. Regarding impervious coverage, newer developments are forced to provide detention for their sites. Unfortunately, it's not easy when you have an older City with a lot of older neighborhoods that didn't have the same type of standards to follow as today developments do. I mean the City of Houston has implemented rules on redevelopment where if a site disturbs existing pavement, they must provide detention. Example, if a commercial development wants to repave a large parking lot (overlay with asphalt for example), the city requires them to now provide detention. It's definitely getting costlier for developers down here regarding drainage and they were not happy with the new rules. Ultimately, it's a problem that has been kicked down the road one too many times and retroactively fixing issues is going to take decade since funding is finite.
Most development codes require detention and stormwater is a major issue. Houston's issues though are much greater than many major cities. This is more than just providing ponds around repaved parking lots but addressing sprawl with a lot of low density developments with hard surfaces.
I fully agree that getting COVID-19 relief passed should be Biden's top legislative priority but after that he should do an infrastructure bill. I think that is one issue he is likely to get a lot of bipartisan support and with what happened in TX shows there is a great need for it.
This is the type of infrastructure project that we could do here. Provide not just wind power but also store it with hydrogen while creating artificial jet fuel. Something like this could be built off the coast of Texas and provide enough energy to power Houston.
How is the spending likely to be prioritized? Electric grid and wind turbines at the top? @Dr of Dunk
Because of what happened in TX the electric grid likely would be the most prominent infrastructure priority. It likely wouldn't just be about wind turbines but building more transmission lines including underground lines that are more weather resilient. While those are important the state of our roads and things like bridges are in bad shape. The collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis in 2007 was a wake up call about how much our infrastructure is aging but there are still many bridges out there that are aging and in danger.
Just saw a story about how Jackson, MS hasn't had drinking water for two weeks following the failure of the water system during the same cold snap that shut down TX. Another reminder of how bad the infrastructure is in much of this country.
Biden's Infrastructure Bill Could Be $2 Trillion Behemoth—Here's What Goldman Sachs Is Expecting https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahh...t-goldman-sachs-is-expecting/?sh=57cc09866071
I have no doubt that there are going to Republicans balking about climate change items in an infrastructure bill but the problem is that things are so bad that even without addressing climate change there are many things that need to be fixed. For Republicans planning on opposing an infrastructure bill just need to point out to what happened in TX, the water situation in Jackson, MS and any number of infrastructure issues in red states.
A lot of the infrastructure work done in the 1950's including the Federal Highway system was justified under national defense. That a strong infrastructure would make the country stronger and better able to defend itself.
Basically we should reduce the number of soldiers and beef up the Corps of Engineers. One way for the Dems to make inroads into rural areas that love Trump though he did nothing for them, (bigly coal jobs!!) is by creating jobs. Biden should be hyper focused on a massive and recurring infrastructure program that would recreate the blue collar middle class. It’s hard for people to complain about that damn government when they work for that damn government.
Yes. Infrastructure in addition to being badly needed is something that makes political sense. Trump had multiple "infrastructure weeks" because he knew infrastructure was popular. That he didn't actually do anything about infrastructure says more about how capable and honest of a President he was but it does show it can be a winning issue.
I don't see the issue with mileage based taxes as opposed to gasoline taxes. Building and maintaining roads cost money. As more and more electric or hybrid vehicles get on the road, the onus of the cost is falling onto a decreasing number of gasoline vehicles. I think it should be based on a combination of GVWR and mileage. Heavier vehicles causes more wear on the road so they should pay more. In addition, I think electric and hybrid vehicle technology has matured enough for them to compete with gasoline vehicles on its own merit. I don't think government incentives like being able to drive on HOV lanes and federal tax credit on electric vehicles are necessary any more. Electric cars are good enough now that people will buy them if the cars meet their needs.
user pay is a good principle, but may lead to some unfairness (western drivers vs folks in the eastern part of the U.S.) but clearly something that has to be worked out if the nation's auto fleet continues drifting toward electric cars
