Ali Swalha

Professor Rigolino

ENG160, Sec. 22

24 February 2024

Roads in the Hudson Valley and the US Need to Improve

Picture this: you’re driving on the road, following safety guidelines with your eyes locked on to the road, and all of a sudden you hit a really bad pothole, and now your tire is popped. It could have led to an accident, but thankfully you were able to pull over to the side of the road while you replaced the tire. But the reality is, it wasn’t your fault at all. It was merely the result of an old road that had simply been damaged, whether through age or otherwise. That is the reality behind millions of miles of roads in the US being in poor condition. Damaged roads cost New Yorkers billions of dollars a year as a result of the problems caused by them, including vehicle accidents. Many drivers are put in danger due to badly damaged roads, and we must take steps to improve the road infrastructure in the Hudson Valley and throughout the US.

It is well documented that visible damage to roads and bridges, such as potholes and cracks, can be very unsafe for drivers. When a car hits a pothole or crack, or when the driver tries to avoid it, it causes the driver to lose control of the vehicle and can result in a serious accident resulting in injury or death. In other cases, it can end up damaging your vehicle, as reported from an American Automobile Association (AAA) survey, where 20% of drivers needed to repair their vehicle due to damage caused by potholes (Gruba).

In more extreme cases, however, the condition of a road or bridge may be so severely damaged that enough stress from multiple vehicles driving on it at once can cause it to collapse on itself, resulting in a substantial number of people being injured or killed, such as what happened in 2007 with the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge located in Minnesota. 2 years prior to its collapse, the bridge, “which was “declared ‘structurally deficient’ by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2005 was passed over for replacement” (Laluan, 84). This bridge was declared to be flawed structurally and unsafe to drive on two years prior, but it was never repaired. Neglecting bridges, especially those with high traffic, puts dozens of people’s lives at risk if another collapse were to occur.

The good news is that there is a solution to all of this. By investing money in repairing and maintaining the road infrastructure throughout the United States, roads can become much smoother, safer to drive on, and more fuel-efficient for your car. Investing in improving the roads can also save money, as the fewer accidents there are, the less people have to pay for repairing their vehicles from car accidents. With more efficient roads, less fuel is used, “which in the long run means lower fuel costs” (Laluan 85).

Of course, there are some arguments to be made against investing billions, possibly trillions, of dollars into improving the road infrastructure throughout the US. In a study conducted by Melissa A. Kenney and her team on the effects that climate change has on the many infrastructure systems in the US, they point out that the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) reported in 2017 that “America’s infrastructure average grade was a D+”, as well as that “total investment needs were estimated at $4.6 trillion to 2025” (Wilbanks et al. 1802-1803). I will not disagree that 4 trillion dollars is a massive investment, but when you consider that this is only the initial cost (maintenance costs will be much lower) to renovate roads back up to a satisfactory condition, along with the money saved that would otherwise be spent on repairing accidents, more fuel due to less efficient roads, and outright rebuilding entire roads, along with the injuries and deaths prevented from car accidents and road collapses, the investment makes more sense in the long term.

For the safety of drivers across the Hudson Valley and the United States, the federal government should invest more money into repairing the country’s failing road infrastructure. While the upfront costs for maintaining the roads are quite high, investing in repairing the roads rather than rebuilding brand new ones will save millions of dollars in the long term, reduce the overall number of accidents every year, and make driving an overall smoother, safer, and much more stable experience for everyone. If we just keep neglecting our roads, I fear that there will be more deaths and injuries as a result of badly damaged roads.

Works Cited:

Laluan, Mark. “The U.S. Must Invest In Infrastructure.” The Pioneer, 8 Apr. 2011, https://thepioneeronline.com/3519/uncategorized/the-u-s-must-invest-in-infrastructure.

Wilbanks, Thomas J., et al. “Toward Indicators of the Performance of US Infrastructures under Climate Change Risks.” Climatic Change, vol. 163, no. 4, 2020, pp. 1795–813, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02942-9.

Gruba, Mark. “Massive Bump, 57% Increase in Drivers Who Sustain Vehicle Damage from Potholes.” AAA, 16 Mar. 2023, https://info.westerncentralny.aaa.com/news-room/aaa-massive-bump-57-increase-drivers-who-sustain-vehicle-damage-potholes.