[HN Gopher] 2025 Infrastructure Report Card
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2025 Infrastructure Report Card
Author : jonbaer
Score : 65 points
Date : 2025-07-19 19:42 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (infrastructurereportcard.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (infrastructurereportcard.org)
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| This is an important inventory to maintain, as the cost to
| maintain or rejuvenate this infrastructure is essentially off the
| books sovereign debt that must be managed (and you can't manage
| what you don't measure).
| 7373737373 wrote:
| It would be interesting to see an international ranking of this
| esafak wrote:
| ... visualized over time.
| ctkhn wrote:
| China would look crazy on that graph
| blackhaz wrote:
| Preferably in a table format.
| bob1029 wrote:
| If I had to pick the best recent improvement in domestic
| infrastructure it would be broadband access. I am seeing
| _competing_ FTTP providers popping up in some Texas markets. The
| biggest regulator around here seems to be whatever local HOA you
| are part of. I 've done a total 180 on these organizations. When
| ran well, they can dramatically improve your life.
| physhster wrote:
| A C seems pretty generous...
| ctkhn wrote:
| Surprised rail is given a B- when you would think compared
| America's rail network against China, Europe, Japan etc. its more
| like a D or lower. Amtrak is good in some regions but decades
| behind other similarly wealthy countries and even plenty or
| countries with much lower GDP per capita.
| SoftTalker wrote:
| Rail in America is dominated by freight, and they do a pretty
| good job.
| hibikir wrote:
| America's rail faces significant challenges those other
| countries don't. An equivalent rail track in the US is vastly
| more expensive, new right-of-ways are much, much harder to
| acquire, especially near cities, and even when you do connect
| two metros that are in the happy medium where high speed rail
| can typically beat car and plane, you still find yourself that
| your terminals are low density sprawl, so the car will be more
| attractive in distances where in, say, Spain, it's just not.
|
| Some connection pairs are probably still worth doing anyway,
| but we won't get the multi million trips a year of a really
| successful line in many cases. So it's all a much harder sell
| VWWHFSfQ wrote:
| Freight rail in USA is massively better than anywhere else in
| the world.
| Phenomenit wrote:
| Don't they have daily de-railings? I remember some YouTube
| video talking about derailings with hazardous materials.
| achierius wrote:
| Most of those are minor incidents in rail-yards, the
| equivalent of bumping someone's car in the parking lot.
|
| From what I know the equivalent stat for the EU is one per
| two days, so better but still in the same ballpark.
| VWWHFSfQ wrote:
| I don't know. We're talking about 10,000 trains operating
| over 150,000 miles of track. A few de-railings per day in
| train yards is probably within an acceptable error rate.
| But, I don't know.
| engineer_22 wrote:
| USA has the largest freight rail network in the world
| mjevans wrote:
| Rush hour impact should be part of the road score. I am _amazed_
| Seattle is rated higher than an F in that respect. 405 south of
| Bellevue is TERRIBLE.
| VWWHFSfQ wrote:
| That is a problem particular to King County and their own
| politics. I-5/90/405 as well has 502 and 99 have always been a
| divisive issue when it comes to infrastructure investment.
| h1fra wrote:
| Being the world's first economy and rating C on average and D on
| critical infrastructure should be a wake-up call for Americans
| and libertarians. Rich in dollars but poor in every other
| measurable way.
| BlackjackCF wrote:
| The worst part about all this: "For the first time since 1998,
| no Report Card categories were rated D-"
|
| Not having any categories being just a tick above absolute
| failure is... something to be proud of? Really?
| dyauspitr wrote:
| But we can pay $170 billion for ICE. It's a pathetic state of
| affairs.
| lclarkmichalek wrote:
| There's also the converse argument, to governments that look to
| infrastructure as the secret to all prosperity - America
| succeeds without infrastructure, somehow.
| Danieru wrote:
| It is important to keep in mind how this "Report Card" is a
| lobbying tool. A wishlist meant to influence, not an independent
| assessment meant to inform.
|
| The prognosis is to spend more money building more things. This
| has been the prognosis every year since the lobbying started.
| Prior projects built based on this excessive lobbying have since
| reached end of life this scheme is so old. Now the reports
| include horror stories of this federal lobbied over building
| which got poorly maintained: as if the poor maintenance is not
| the expected result of building more than can be maintained.
|
| Infrastucture funding in the US typically operates such that the
| federal government gives money to build new stuff, while local
| governments are left attempting to pay for the maintenance.
|
| Try to find a single page dedicated to identifying over
| provisioned infrastructure which could be downsized to reduce
| maintance costs... The ASCE's solution to all problems is to
| spend more money building more.
| potato3732842 wrote:
| >The ASCE's solution to all problems is to spend more money
| building more.
|
| It almost doesn't matter. Those jerks are written into law just
| about everywhere. Even if you wanna build right size or remove
| oversize they'll get their pound of flesh.
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(page generated 2025-07-19 23:00 UTC)