Infrastructural Deficiency in the United States
Matt Bys
Western Governors University

The Golden Gate Bridge and the Hoover Dam are some of the greatest parts of infrastructure in the United States of America. America would not be as great as it is without these astounding structures. The dams provide safety and bridges provide the public with faster transportation to new areas. America’s once great infrastructure is being taken for granted and deteriorating quickly. Research suggests American infrastructure requires more devotion from the government because the safety of American lives are at risk and the economy would improve from building better infrastructure. According to researcher Walter, America’s infrastructure is crumbling(2013). American infrastructure has been graded by the American Society of Civil Engineers and received a D in 2009. The elderly American infrastructure is putting the nation’s well-being at risk and is getting worse each passing year. The Minneapolis bridge collapse and New Orleans failing levees during hurricane Katrina are just a couple of devastating examples that show the state of American infrastructure(Walter, 2013). The bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2007 had been designated structurally deficient just like 77,000 other bridges in America(Stawicki, 2007). Minnesota officials had known since 1990 that the bridge was considered structurally deficient. Officials had done patchwork on the bridge since then and did inspections more often. One of the inspections raised awareness of some cracks and told the state to either strengthen critical parts or conduct another inspection to see if there were even more cracks. The state chose to do the inspections(Stawicki, 2007). In 2005 there was a federal inspection that gave the bridge a score of 50 out of 100 and labeled it structurally deficient again. The bridge was