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Opinion: America’s crumbling infrastructure desperately needs funding

Last month, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) introduced the Update, Promote and Develop America’s Transportation Essentials (UPDATE) Act. The proposed bill lays out a clear roadmap on how to restore and modernize America’s surface transportation system. 

Much of the recent debate on infrastructure investment has focused on economic stimulus and job creation. While these are important considerations, Americans shouldn’t lose sight of a simpler fact: Their roads need repairs and maintenance which requires investment. For far too long, lawmakers have ignored upgrading our aging infrastructure for other priorities. Americans are now paying the price. Although this is obvious from our congested highways, roads strewn with potholes, and aging bridges, a careful examination of the evidence is sobering.

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Photo: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Roads facilitate capitalism // Jay