The road taken : the history and future of America's infrastructure /

Physical infrastructure in the United States is crumbling. The American Society of Civil Engineers has, in its latest report, given American roads and bridges a grade of D and C+, respectively, and has described roughly sixty-five thousand bridges in the United States as 'structurally deficient...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Petroski, Henry (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Bloomsbury, 2016.
Subjects:
Table of Contents:
  • The road taken : givens, choices, forks, sighs
  • The road not taken : words, reports, and grades
  • Roads : dirt, stone, wood, concrete, asphalt
  • Diverged : transcontinental journeys and interstate dreams
  • Yellow : center lines, stop signs, traffic lights
  • Could not travel : earthquakes, envy, and embarrassments
  • In the undergrowth : elevateds, subways, and engineers
  • Just as fair : location, location, location-- and financing
  • Perhaps the better claim : iconic, signature, and stunning spans
  • Because it was : guardrails, medians, and Jersey barriers
  • Grassy and wanted wear : streets, lawns, speed bumps, potholes
  • The passing there : sidewalks, curbs, gutters, horses, pavements
  • Had worn them really : quality, shoddiness, and survivor bias
  • About the same : good enough bridges and bad enough tools
  • Lay in leaves : triage, budgets, and choices, again
  • Trodden black : corruption, graft, waste, fraud, abuse
  • For another day : trust funds, fuel taxes, and politics
  • How way leads on to way : economics, wrong turns, and political choices
  • Ever come back : pedestrians, preservationists, parks
  • Telling this with a sigh : public-private partnerships : plusses and minuses
  • Ages and ages hence : smart cars and pothole-free roads.