The Route of the Problem with Infrastructure

I've written quite a bit about the status of our nation's critical infrastructure in the last month or so. Much of the problem is a lack of funding to maintain or replace our aging infrastructure. The Governing article The Real Root of Broken Infrastructure: Broken Governance points to the problems of regional transportation systems trying to function with antiquated governance systems that don't reflect the regional nature of our larger metropolitan areas.

Think back 50 years and how far people were willing to commute back then. Few if any were making the long drives that are the daily commute for many today. This means that they are driving or taking mass transit through multiple jurisdictions. My transit ride takes me through six different cities. If those are uncoordinated and not part of a regional system, the functioning of that system and its long-term health are not going to be very good.

This governance challenge will also reveal itself with the disruptive technologies that are emerging. Government is having trouble keeping up with laws to administer these new technologies. Many are tied to how the Internet, GPS, broadband and mobile are changing how we get our information and then function in a modern society.