On his Sunday late night talk show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the host explains why infrastructure is falling apart (video can be found here).  




In a nutshell:

>  People enjoy going to the movies to see mega-infrastructure disasters.

dailytelegraph.com.au 

>  Politicians enjoy using very large scissors to cut ribbons at opening day ceremonies, but do not enjoy the mundane funding for maintenance of existing infrastructure.

sugarhill.com

/>  In Pittsburgh, a bridge was built below a crumbling bridge, the purpose being to catch falling debris (this was taken from a 60 Minutes segment on deteriorating bridges). 

Greenfield Street Bridge -  pittsburghmagazine.com


>  Everyone agrees that infrastructure is failing and must be fixed.  No one agrees on how to pay for it.

The segment ends with a mock drama about maintenance.  The star and hero is a bearded bridge inspector who calmly tackles all the bad news while stoically going about his business.  As far as I know, this is the first time a bridge inspector has been presented as the dramatic hero.  



taranakoplak.blogspot.com