The White House has issued a series of updated fact sheets bragging about how much money the infrastructure bill will spend in each state (see table below). The fact sheets are based on formulas in the bill that account for a little more than three-fourths of the “new” spending in the bill, with the other 22 percent coming from grant programs. The “new” spending, in turn, accounts for $550 billion, while the other $650 billion is a reauthorization of existing spending programs.
It’s hard to look at these numbers without getting the impression that most of the money will be wasted. For example, every state gets a minimum of $100 million to expand broadband access to its residents. Residents of the District of Columbia currently have access to 38 different broadband providers, with 11 of them providing service to residences. Yet DC, like the states, will get the $100 million minimum. What’s the point? (For that matter, everyone in the country has access to at least two satellite providers, but the bill pretends that anything short of a land-line provider is inadequate.)
The excuse for the infrastructure bill is that America’s infrastructure is crumbling, and that may be true for city streets and city- and county-owned bridges. But the tens of billions of dollars going for highways will almost all go to the states, whose infrastructure is in good shape and improving every year.
Similarly, America’s transit systems have roughly a $100 billion maintenance backlog. But the allocations include only $26 billion for transit and only a small fraction of this will be used to repair deteriorating rail systems and other transit infrastructure. I won’t be surprised of much of it will be used to build new rail lines and other infrastructure that transit systems won’t be able to afford to maintain.
Hence many herbalists refer this herb as a cardiac tonic bulk buy viagra as it strengthens the heart. As an established and reputed practitioner of psychotherapy in Annapolis, within a safe and supportive ambience and after being through comprehensive interviews and discussions with the patient, free viagra for women she tries to explore his unconscious and bring out what is buried deep down in his mind. However, if you go to a legal generico viagra on line medicine website. Why Penile does not Work Right The vessels, which deliver blood to the cialis without prescription you can try these out penile can, get clogged in men with the various condition of heart disease, which is just as other blood vessels can. The Washington DC Metrorail system, for example, is running on reduced schedules right now due to frequent derailments. The system needs something like $12 billion for complete rehabilitation, but the bill allocates only $4.1 billion to DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Some of that $4.1 billion will go to Baltimore, Richmond, and other places outside of the DC area. Some of the money spent in DC will probably go to cover some of the cost overruns on the Silver Line to Dulles. That won’t leave much to repair crumbling infrastructure.
These problems come about due to a political system that gets broad support for bills like this by making sure the funds are spread across all states and congressional districts, even though the real problems are found in only some of them. Politicians would also rather spend money on new construction than on maintenance, which is how our infrastructure got into the shape it is in. The bill doesn’t solve these problems; it makes them worse. I suspect in a few years we will start to see a new push for another big infrastructure bill because this one failed to fix the real problems.
Infrastructure Spending
| State | Total | Highways | Bridges | Transit | Water | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA | 44,560 | 25,300 | 4,200 | 9,500 | 3,500 | 2,100 |
| TX | 35,440 | 26,900 | 537 | 3,300 | 2,900 | 1,800 |
| NY | 26,920 | 11,600 | 1,900 | 9,800 | 2,600 | 1,000 |
| FL | 19,100 | 13,100 | 245 | 2,600 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
| IL | 17,810 | 9,800 | 1,400 | 4,000 | 1,700 | 914 |
| PA | 17,800 | 11,300 | 1,600 | 2,800 | 1,400 | 701 |
| NJ | 13,510 | 6,800 | 1,100 | 4,100 | 1,000 | 508 |
| OH | 12,830 | 9,200 | 483 | 1,200 | 1,400 | 544 |
| GA | 12,340 | 8,900 | 225 | 1,400 | 913 | 900 |
| MI | 10,780 | 7,300 | 563 | 1,000 | 1,300 | 620 |
| NC | 10,400 | 7,200 | 457 | 910 | 1,100 | 728 |
| VA | 10,100 | 7,000 | 537 | 1,200 | 738 | 628 |
| MA | 9,330 | 4,200 | 1,100 | 2,500 | 1,100 | 429 |
| MO | 9,010 | 6,500 | 484 | 674 | 866 | 485 |
| IN | 8,840 | 6,600 | 401 | 680 | 751 | 410 |
| WA | 8,590 | 4,700 | 605 | 1,800 | 882 | 613 |
| TN | 7,960 | 5,800 | 302 | 630 | 697 | 526 |
| MD | 7,400 | 4,100 | 409 | 1,700 | 844 | 345 |
| AZ | 7,310 | 5,000 | 225 | 884 | 619 | 579 |
| WI | 7,270 | 5,200 | 225 | 592 | 841 | 415 |
| LA | 7,250 | 4,800 | 1,000 | 470 | 580 | 389 |
| AL | 6,970 | 5,200 | 225 | 400 | 782 | 361 |
| MN | 6,800 | 4,500 | 302 | 818 | 680 | 502 |
| KY | 6,490 | 4,600 | 438 | 391 | 647 | 410 |
| CO | 6,170 | 3,700 | 225 | 916 | 688 | 640 |
| SC | 6,110 | 4,600 | 274 | 366 | 510 | 364 |
| CT | 6,040 | 3,500 | 561 | 1,300 | 445 | 234 |
| OK | 5,770 | 4,300 | 266 | 349 | 520 | 337 |
| OR | 5,360 | 3,400 | 268 | 747 | 529 | 417 |
| IA | 5,080 | 3,400 | 432 | 305 | 638 | 307 |
| AR | 4,960 | 3,600 | 278 | 246 | 528 | 310 |
| AK | 4,930 | 3,400 | 225 | 362 | 368 | 574 |
| MS | 4,460 | 3,300 | 225 | 223 | 429 | 285 |
| WV | 4,400 | 3,000 | 506 | 190 | 487 | 215 |
| NV | 4,040 | 2,500 | 225 | 459 | 403 | 452 |
| UT | 3,960 | 2,400 | 225 | 623 | 360 | 349 |
| MT | 3,860 | 2,800 | 225 | 157 | 355 | 321 |
| KS | 3,840 | 2,600 | 225 | 272 | 454 | 288 |
| NM | 3,730 | 2,500 | 225 | 366 | 355 | 279 |
| NE | 3,040 | 2,000 | 225 | 186 | 358 | 271 |
| ID | 3,030 | 2,000 | 225 | 192 | 355 | 253 |
| DC | 3,010 | 1,100 | 225 | 1,200 | 355 | 127 |
| SD | 2,850 | 1,900 | 225 | 124 | 355 | 242 |
| ND | 2,640 | 1,700 | 225 | 109 | 355 | 252 |
| HI | 2,620 | 1,200 | 339 | 312 | 390 | 379 |
| WY | 2,580 | 1,800 | 225 | 0 | 335 | 224 |
| RI | 2,570 | 1,500 | 242 | 272 | 378 | 181 |
| DE | 2,380 | 1,200 | 225 | 220 | 355 | 377 |
| ME | 2,370 | 1,300 | 225 | 234 | 390 | 216 |
| VT | 2,220 | 1,400 | 225 | 77 | 355 | 167 |
| NH | 2,050 | 1,100 | 225 | 125 | 418 | 181 |
State-by-state formula spending out of infrastructure bill in millions of dollars.
Private transit is common
Colectivo: Are common in latin America. One notable system in Buenos Aires features Mercedes buses that are about as large as public buses in the U.S. According to a 1996 study, the subsidy-free system had 14,000 vehicles operated by 230 companies, and provided 11 million daily rides.
Tro Tro: small buses are the main form of transport in Ghana. In the capital city of Accra, 70% of commuters use them (compared, states a World Bank report, to 10% for SOVs, 8% for taxis, and 0.3% for public transit). While there has been some recent government investment, Tro Tros are mostly a decentralized, unregulated service run by private unions.
Van Jái: It seems that the wealthier the country, the likelier that it outlaws private transit and replaces it with public transit. But Hong Kong is an outlier, with a mostly private model. It provides public transit by bus, but franchises provision to 5 different companies. The 427sqmi special administrative region also allows thousands of non-franchised buses, including minibuses
Jitneys—which are the westernized version —became popular here in the years before the US entered WWI. The first American Jitneys appeared in 1914, and within a year there were thousands of these shared vehicles in major cities. Automobiles had recently been invented, and people were learning that they were more flexible than trolleys, and almost as cheap if rides were pooled with other people. But because these buses cut into trolley companies’ profits, the companies lobbied to have them banned. Within years the industry was dead, and some of those protectionist laws remain on the books.
”Uber has a bus line (Uber Bus) that it rolled out in Cairo and Monterrey—two cities that already have liberalized transport markets and a critical mass of patrons. It is unsurprising that Uber Bus hasn’t opened in the U.S. They had enough trouble gaining permission for small carpools, and there are even greater regulations, dating back a century, that outlaw buses.
Privatized transportation is ubiquitous outside the US where regulatory hurdles hadn’t totalled stifled enterprise.
Jitney’s were common in San Francisco up til the 70’s. In the 1910s, there were 1,400 jitneys operating in the city, according to SFMTA records, and they remained ubiquitous into the 1970s, patronized by the city’s Asian and Latin immigrant community. But around that time the city wanted to encourage public transit use on MUNI and BART. It disliked the competition, so began issuing fewer permits and forcing jitneys to raise fares, as not to undercut the public option. In 1978, the city stopped issuing permits altogether. 2011, some reorganization within SFMTA created a brief period of deregulation, and like lickity split, new jitneys surfaced, such as Chariot and Leap. But SFMTA was soon back in the business of harassing them, writing new regulations that let the agency micromanage where the buses could stop, stating in the bylaws that “routes must complement, rather than compete with, Muni.” Government cronyism to the rescue. SFMTA also authorized permit fees, limits on vehicle lengths, and mandates that companies share data with the city. Within a few years, Leap and Chariot both went under.
So Government is now wasting money and uses it’s muscle to tell more efficient profit driven enterprise to go to hell.Nothing like bureaucrats 2,200 miles a way determining who is worthy of certain projects using our grandchildren’s money. And yes I fault Republicans for doing the same.
I agree with the Antiplanner and LazyReader. I have never understood why fees on those who use it cannot be used to pay for the infrastructure and repairs of what is being used. For example, ports that are apparently overwhelmed with containers cannot pay for improvements out of fees for shipping and storing containers.
Comments on high speed internet: In the area I live in in the mid 2000’s the only service available was by satellite. This was frustratingly slow and expensive, Not easily usable. If this is still the case I can see why low income people in the area might be placed at a disadvantage using this system. But why subsidize everyone? Why not a system similar to the earned income tax credit to grant vouchers for internet supply to low income people in areas with expensive high speed internet?
Paul: Technology has marched forward since you last used satellites for internet access …
Starlink is the company’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to deliver high-speed internet to consumers anywhere on the planet. SpaceX first rolled out the service with a beta program for select consumers for $99 a month, and in the past year has begun looking to test the network for aviation service inflight and expand the service to large moving vehicles, like ships and trucks.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/19/spacex-starlink-satellite-internet-new-capabilities-starship-launch.html
Early days yet.
Meanwhile, taxpayers are footing the bill to run copper and fiber to rural america.
While the high-tech approach pushes the costs and energy use of the internet higher and higher, the low-tech alternatives result in much cheaper and very energy efficient networks that combine well with renewable power production and are resistant to disruptions. If we want the internet to keep working in circumstances where access to energy is more limited, we can learn important lessons from alternative network technologies. Best of all, there’s no need to wait for governments or companies to facilitate: we can build our own resilient communication infrastructure if we cooperate.
Europe has entire private, hand built networks. Long-distance WiFi links require line of sight to make a connection — in this sense, the technology resembles the 18th century optical telegraph.Long range WiFi offers high bandwidth (up to 54 Mbps) combined with very low capital costs. Because the WiFi standard enjoys widespread acceptance and has huge production volumes, off-the-shelf antennas and wireless cards can be bought for very little money.
While most low-tech networks are aimed at regions where the alternative is often no internet connection at all, their usefulness for well-connected areas cannot be overlooked. The internet as we know it in the industrialized world is a product of an abundant energy supply, a robust electricity infrastructure, and sustained economic growth, huge capital expenses. This “high-tech” internet might offer some fancy advantages over the low-tech networks, but it cannot survive if these conditions change. This makes it extremely vulnerable.
And the silicon valley titans; are they really trust worthy. “Democratize Democracy”
I’m sure that’s what the wizards behind Twitter, Facebook, and Google told themselves good would follow til they transformed into the greatest censorship, snitchery, and propaganda agents in world history. A redundant, low tech internet…..while slower is orders of magnitude more liberating. Small communities and counties should invest in their own internet. It’s far greater circumstance than the Big hustlers who push and sell your data thousands of miles
I’m assuming those highway funds are total federal payments during the 5-year period. It looks like there is minimal increase in highway funding for Texas, less than 10% That probably won’t cover inflation. The new amount appears to be below FY 2021 $6 billion (but that value is an estimate based on budgeted amounts, not actual). However, something doesn’t seem right about this. Incremental new highway funding was reported as $110 billion, and I recall at least one report that Texas’ share was $8 billion or $1.6 billion per year, which seems in the ballpark.
Infrastructure bill amount
(26.9+.527)/5 = $5.5 billion per year
Federal disbursements to Texas, fiscal year ending in August, from documents on the TxDOT web site
2019: $4.2 billion
2020: $5.3 billion
2021 estimated: approx $6.0 billion
2022 budgeted: $4.92 billion
2023 budgeted: $4.92 billion
Bottom line: there’s not much new “waste” here. Anyways, TxDOT doesn’t waste money because it builds highways which are heavily used by the public and accommodate population growth.
From AEI …
Congress is appropriating $42.45 billion to the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which will award states grants to support broadband infrastructure, mapping, and adoption projects.
[ … ]
NTIA will need to quickly build out the staffing and capabilities to administer exponentially more funding through more numerous — and complicated — grant programs. Further complicating matters is that Alan Davidson was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as NTIA’s director but is still not confirmed.
Crucial to successful implementation of these funds will be accurate data and maps of broadband speed and availability. The FCC and NTIA will need to accelerate the release of new maps, and states will need to improve data collection and analysis. State governors will also need to identify and possibly establish new offices to coordinate grant applications and sub-granting processes.
Finally, philanthropic support will be essential to ensure states and communities can take advantage of these funding opportunities. A similar effort is urgently needed to help states develop their plans, engage their communities, and begin building and prioritizing investments.
https://www.aei.org/technology-and-innovation/unpacking-a-major-investment-in-broadband-infrastructure/
I’d hold off on buying that new computer and modem.