Infrastructure is defined as “the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g., buildings, roads, and power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.”
Sounds like important stuff.
Indeed, infrastructure is essential to both human advancement and daily living, driven by economic success and a driver of further growth. Countries with higher GDPs typically have better roads, safer bridges, spiffier skyscrapers, and more cutting-edge utilities, although the disparity in the U.S. between its wealth and its quality of infrastructure is distressingly widening. The country received a D+ on the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2017 “Infrastructure Report Card.”
The report card gave Montana a C- for its most recent grade, in 2014, saying the state’s “aging infrastructure is approaching a critical state of disrepair.” The grade cites roads, schools, dams, wastewater, and safe drinking water. That’s why infrastructure has been so heavily debated at recent Legislatures. Next to the budget, it was the foremost item on this year’s legislative docket.
But if everybody agrees that it’s an urgently pressing matter, there’s less consensus among legislators over how to prioritize and fund the critical projects. When a major infrastructure bill died last month, for the third straight session, Montanans were left with legislative finger-pointing instead of what they really wanted: a comprehensive infrastructure package. This most basic expectation of the populace was once again kicked down the increasingly pot-holed road.
Before the session, I would have placed a small wager on the Legislature passing an infrastructure bill, not because I harbored naïve visions of Democrats and Republicans sharing a flowery kumbaya moment, but because it seemed they had no choice after previous failures, for political reasons and less cynical ones.
To be fair, our legislators got a lot done this session. The Republican-controlled Senate and House hammered out a difficult budget with Gov. Steve Bullock and passed other significant bills. They even addressed infrastructure, approving $173 million to pay for water, wastewater, road, and bridge projects, predominantly in rural areas, and authorized spending hundreds of millions more in federal funding for road projects.
But the big public works bill — after the Legislature killed one in 2015 and Bullock vetoed another in 2013 — withered on the vine yet again. The final bonding bill would have allocated $80 million for schools and a veterans’ nursing home, as well as $43 million for water projects, although Bullock had initially sought $292 million.
Dissent and disagreement are cornerstones of democracy, but so are negotiation and cooperation, particularly regarding issues whose primacy is widely agreed upon by people of all political persuasions. Everybody in Helena knew an infrastructure bill had to be passed.
As Kalispell Republican Rep. Frank Garner put it: “Make no mistake, in my mind we failed the people of Montana because we couldn’t move the ball forward.”
Roads and utilities are among the truest expressions of common property, and we should reasonably expect our commonly held governments to address their needs. All taxpayers desire is an adequate return on their investment in the state.
At best, neglected infrastructure causes inconvenience and eyesores. At worst, it endangers human safety and inflicts environmental damage. Then, of course, there’s the lost job potential. No matter who shoulders more blame here, nobody comes out looking good.
The casualty isn’t just a bridge to our day’s destination, but a bridge to our future.