Barry B. LePatner

Throughout the recent presidential campaign, several topics were discussed ad nauseam. In debates, interviews, campaign ads and stump speeches, the economy, taxes, job creation, national security and the national deficit got a lot of attention. But it has become clear that unless we have a catastrophic failure of another piece of infrastructure, there is little likelihood that our imperiled roads and bridges will receive the attention they deserve. And without a political push, federal funding will not be provided to correct decades of neglect. The U.S. has 4,000 dams in danger of bursting and flooding cities and towns. Our clean

The nation’s infrastructure is in dire need of repair. But with decimated state budgets and an antiquated funding system that values big, flashy projects over repair and maintenance, finding the money is an uphill battle. And yet, at the five-year anniversary of the I-35W Bridge collapse, it’s critical that we figure out a way. Here are my suggestions for infrastructure funding reforms.• Improve funding oversight. The current system for overseeing the distribution of federal aid for state highway projects through the Federal Highway Administration is clearly broken. After funds are distributed to the states, it is hard to determine where