We won’t have the money or cheap energy needed to fix this slowly collapsing legacy of steel, concrete, and macadam. We will fill the potholes, and rebuild the occasional bridge, but we are going to have to imagine new transportation and energy approaches that leave the current infrastructure to fall down.

via Our Failing Infrastructure | Underpaid Genius.

Stowe Boyd has some solid thoughts on our infrastructure situation.  The issue goes beyond transportation and energy, though they attract most of the attention. Water supplies, drainage, and flood control are equally vulnerable to deterioration – and our national water systems are in notably poor shape.  Certainly conservation can help, and while “smart” materials can also help in terms of   future utility, so can some older tech.

This comes at a time when a leading Republican candidate for President says she believes the states should be responsible for repairs. It’s hard not to read that as indicating that infrastructure spending will continue to be blocked at the national level.

At the same time, there is increasing pressure on cash-strapped municipalities to privatize their infrastructure, as Dylan Ratigan has reported so well. It’s not unreasonable to assume that, absent Federal funds, these sales will tend to occur in the net-deficit states. Many of which, not so coincidentally, are  more dependent on transportation, flood control, and energy infrastructure than most of the rest of the country.

The privatization trend is about as non-resilient economically for a region as it can get. Private investment is designed to make a profit, and that means additional funds flowing out of the region, rather than being reinvested locally. At best, this makes a region marginally poorer – at worst, it turns it into an economic colony.  Any municipal region in these circumstances needs to think hard about how to deal with the likely fallout in the near future.