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Flood waters reveal lack of redundancy
Redundancy is often presented as a negative, but redundant systems allow graceful degradation rather than sudden collapse. Besides the threat to life, homes and crops, the midwest flooding illustrates how we have given up transportation resiliency in the name of profit:
How A Midwest Flood Can Drag Down A Nation
Most of that web of rails is gone too. What's left is overloaded "main lines" that are often just single track, the second track having been pulled up and sold for scrap. "Branch Lines" that used to parallel the main lines and serve as detours now run a few miles and dead end, if they haven't been torn out entirely. Dozens of rail yards have been torn out and the land sold at huge profits for development- As a result backed up trains plug the main lines because there aren't enough yards to park them in. Despite most railroads now being quite profitable, profits that should have been reinvested in upgrading century old routes through river valleys have instead gone into dividends to satisfy short sighted investors.
We ain't gettin' anywhere on the highways either- money that could have been spent to raise highways above the 500 year flood plain has instead been wasted on extremely expensive added lanes so exurban commuters can escape the city a minute or two faster. Fortunately Iowa invested in making US 61 and US 20 into 4 lane expressways that are now doing yeoman duty as detour routes- In neighboring Minnesota republicans still haven't finished 4 laning US 14 after decades of planning. And on the river our WPA era system of locks cries for an upgrade.
Brings to mind the recent thread on bus express lanes.
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Comments (5)
Excellent information as usual. We've become a nation of slumlords.
June 16, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Those single lines are really going to a big help as more freight is moved from highway to railroads as a consequence of higher fuel prices.
It seems to be another illustration of our propensity in the USA to look no further ahead than the bottom line at the end of the next quarter.
June 16, 2008 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Planned economy was a disaster, but utterly unplanned economy doesn't seem to be faring much better in the long term.
June 16, 2008 3:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
These things are supposed to be planned - by officials that have a stake in the future themselves. Sometimes I get the feeling that our wealthy minority is stripping the US of its assets before they head for Paraguay.
June 16, 2008 5:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought they were already in Dubai.
June 16, 2008 6:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
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