National Report Questions Quality Of Bay Area Infrastructure
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – Most of us are aware that our country's infrastructure could use a little work, but a new report reveals just how bad things really are, including in portions of the Bay Area.
Many Americans hate paying for bridges, roads, and other transportation lines.
KCBS' Susan Leigh Taylor Reports:
"But if we don't invest we're really compromising our future," said Maureen McAvey, executive vice president of the Urban Lands Institute which published the new study.
McAvey said our deteriorating transportation network is causing us to fall behind three emerging economic competitors: Brazil, China and India.
The American Society of Civil Engineers independently reports we need $2 trillion over the next five years just to maintain our current status.
Here in the Bay Area, McAvey points to our 40-year-old Bay Area Rapid Transit system as an example of holding things together with chewing gum and string.
"The estimates are that about $7.5 billion is needed to just repair the tracks, upgrade, improve and buy new rolling stocks and to do station repairs and improvements," said McAvey.
All of that money would not include the BART to San Jose line.
The report is just the latest in a series that conclude the nation will face dire long-term consequences if major investment in transportation revitalization is postponed.
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