Time to Repair and Restore

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Legislators in many states, including South Dakota, Virginia and Alabama, have recently admitted their problems and hiked gasoline taxes by as much as 4¢ per gal. Other states will surely follow. Says David Finley, of the Ohio department of transportation: "We haven't raised our gas taxes in more than two decades, but we will have to now. The condition of the roads has me very worried."

Bridges. One of every five bridges in the U.S. needs major rehabilitation. Fortunately, those on the brink of breakdown are usually closed to traffic. In Ohio, 605 bridges have been blocked off, but 4,000 others that show ominous signs of deterioration are still in use. More than half of Louisiana's 14,800 bridges do not meet federal and state standards. Some of the nation's worst bridges are also heavily traveled ones. In River Rouge, Mich., the Miller Road Bridge links a huge Ford Motor factory with Interstate 94. A city engineer describes it as "utterly dangerous and in bad need of repair."

The cost of fixing U.S. bridges could run as high as $33 billion, but states and cities can spend just a small fraction of that amount. Federal aid for bridge repairs is only $1.3 billion this year. Admits Daniel Mines, an engineer for the State of Michigan: "Bridges are falling down faster than we can rebuild them."

City Streets, Sewers and Subways. Old age is catching up with many American cities. Cleveland's antiquated sewer system overflows during heavy rains. Says City Budget Director Phillip Allen: "We always have flooded basements throughout Cleveland. It wouldn't be so bad if it were just storm water, but it's combined with sewage water." In St. Louis, about 15% of the water supply leaks out of the city's aged pipes. In Newark, 90% of the streets need patching, resurfacing or complete reconstruction.

New York City is in a class by itself. Last year the metropolis had 547 water-main breaks that cost $60 million to repair. Potholes and other road defects prompted 1,941 property damage claims totaling $20.9 million. The ramshackle subway system is notoriously unreliable. Three weeks ago, a train bound for Manhattan from Queens broke down, stranding 1,500 passengers in a tunnel under the East River for more than an hour. Concerned New York businessmen are banding together to lobby for change. One group called Business for Mass Transit has taken advertisements in the New York Times to deliver a warning to city and state officials: "The impending collapse of our subways, bus lines and commuter railroads threatens our businesses and the jobs of millions of workers."

The cost of reversing this kind of urban decay is too high for many city treasuries. Officials in New Orleans believe that it would take $200 million to repair the city's crumbling streets, but only $32 million is now available for the job. One estimate of the cost of modernizing Baltimore's sewer system comes to $1,880 for every man, woman and child in the city.

With municipal budgets under severe strain, some cities are risking even further deterioration. Since 1973, Buffalo has reduced the number of its water-system workers by more than 40%. In the past two years, Boston has cut its mass-transit engineering and maintenance work force by 16%. Oakland, Calif., has trimmed its street-repair crew by 18%.