On his Sunday late night talk show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the host explains why infrastructure is falling apart (video can be found here).
In a nutshell:
> People enjoy going to the movies to see mega-infrastructure disasters.
dailytelegraph.com.au
> Politicians enjoy using very large scissors to cut ribbons at opening day ceremonies, but do not enjoy the mundane funding for maintenance of existing infrastructure.
sugarhill.com
/> In Pittsburgh, a bridge was built below a crumbling bridge, the purpose being to catch falling debris (this was taken from a 60 Minutes segment on deteriorating bridges).
Greenfield Street Bridge - pittsburghmagazine.com
> Everyone agrees that infrastructure is failing and must be fixed. No one agrees on how to pay for it.
The segment ends with a mock drama about maintenance. The star and hero is a bearded bridge inspector who calmly tackles all the bad news while stoically going about his business. As far as I know, this is the first time a bridge inspector has been presented as the dramatic hero.
taranakoplak.blogspot.com
This is one funny, barbed show that pulls no punches in between the one liners. It is must-see TV for everyone working in infrastructure, and everyone who is counting on infrastructure not collapsing on them.
