Move : Putting America's Infrastructure back in the Lead

Normally, this blog focuses on water infrastructure. However, arguments for improvements in other categories of national assets apply. The American Society of Civil Engineers grades various types of national assets. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, of the Harvard Business School, has written on the need for the United States to upgrade its transportation infrastructure--roads, trains, and air. Although she specializes in corporate leadership, she realized that maintaining that leadership required the national networks to facilitate the movement of people, goods, and services. She linked the state of infrastructure with other mobility-related social concerns, such as business growth, employment, economic development, family interactions and safety, education, health, and the environment.

With a historical and current perspective, Kanter assessed the state of U. S. infrastructure and compared it with other countries around the world.  Beginning with the national railroad system, she listed what the U. S. lacks compared to other countries: bullet trains, magnetic levitation trains, high-speed rail over long distances. Although the rail system, passenger and freight, remains antiquated and under-funded, relying on trucks to haul goods does not constitute a viable alternative because of safety and labor issues.

Regarding air transportation, from the control tower to ground facilities, aviation experts agree on the necessity to keep the system reliant, uncongested, and modern. The reality that Kanter acknowledged, that the U. S. ranks second in aviation, according to the World Economic Forum Competitiveness Report, with Canada as number one. The U. S. ranked 30 on aviation quality, according to a survey of executives. Satellite-based flight management systems, used since 1991, required navigation performance (RNP), Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) programs, and other innovations have transformed the aviation system in the past twenty-five years. These changes do not reconcile the inconsistencies in air transportation development; the federal government controls the airport regulation and local governments control the land and surrounding areas in which they operate. Kanter supports faster and more strategic coordination between the two entities.

The discussion of road transportation, currently, veers to topic of smart cars, vehicle to vehicle (v2v) communication, autonomous cars and the transformation of the vehicle driving experience. Kanter briefly covered the state of the nation's road infrastructure, "the main focus of American surface transportation policy since the 1950, with the construction of the Interstate Highway System and accompanying gasoline taxes, but they have not been hot spots for innovation (p. 120)." More challenging are the evolving changes to the automobile industry, with sensors, broadband, and wireless technologies radicalizing the way we move and transport ourselves.

In a chapter titled, The Will and the Wallet, Kanter recounts the methods that the U. S. has employed to fund infrastructure projects--bonds, privatization, Public/Private Partnerships, and Infrastructure banks. Adamantly against privatization because of failures of these efforts in the past, Kanter supports the traditional approach to financing, bonds, and encourages the newer forms, Public/Private Partnerships and Infrastructure banks. She ends the book with her ingredients for the successful "arenas for action" (p. 260): "1. A New Story: The Mobility Race. . .  2.A National Framework Implemented Regionally. . . Public/Private Partnerships. . . Entrepreneurs and Technology Talent at the Table. . .Courageous leaders with a compelling vision. . . Informed and empowered citizens" (pp. 260-279).