Infrastructure Report Card: Roads: "D"

(WPA workers paving Loch Raven Boulevard in Baltimore, Maryland, in September of 1936. Image courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives)  

The 2013 Infrastructure Report Card by the American Society of Civil Engineers gives America's roadways a "D", writing: "Forty-two percent of America’s major urban highways remain congested, costing the economy an estimated $101 billion in wasted time and fuel annually." 

During the New Deal, the WPA performed various types of work on 650,000 miles of roads, streets, and highways. That's enough roadwork to circle the Earth 26 times.

27 million Americans would like a full time job, but can't find one. Nearly 5 million Americans are considered "long-term unemployed" by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The current labor force participation rate in America is historically low. There is no WPA today. Few of our political "leaders" even discuss it.