Why Our Roads Could Be Better

Because of the unusual frequency with which drivers misjudge the height of bridges along Stover Drive, near Boston, Massachusetts, they say their truck has been Stovered if calamity strikes. Built long ago, those low bridges need to be raised (and razed). Somewhat similarly, the newest trains added to the U.S. Amtrak network travel at less than their fastest speed. The reason is older tracks incapable of high-speed transit.

Where are we going? To problems with the U.S. transportation infrastructure.

U.S. Transportation Infrastructure

Report Card

Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) publishes an infrastructure report card for the U.S. Our 2017 average grade was D+. Then, with a C- average, we fared a bit better in 2021 because of better aviation and ports. And now, the upward climb continues with the ASCE saying (proudly) that it was the first time since 1998 that no category got a D- and eight were higher from last year:

Road Quality

In a 2025 report from the World Population Review, Singapore, Switzerland, and the Netherlands topped a road quality list while the U.S., with a 5.87 score, was #11:

Our Bottom Line: U.S. Transportation Infrastructure History

Erie Canal

While I always like to start with the Erie Canal when asked about the development of the U.S. transportation infrastructure, we should note that work on the first National Road (from Maryland to Illinois) began in 1811. However, long before we had a National Road, the Erie Canal was completed in 1825. Connecting Eastern and Midwestern markets, and a prototype for copycat waterways, the Erie Canal enabled regional specialization.

Built between Albany and Buffalo, New York, the Erie Canal connected far more of the country:

Regional Specialization

As a result, the Northeast could concentrate on manufacturing, the West could grow farm goods and raise livestock, the South could focus on cotton. What you did not provide locally, you could get from a distant place. Rocky New England farms no longer needed to grow tobacco and people in the South could stop making their own shoes.

From there we built a transcontinental railroad system that connected the East with West by 1869. Easily, quickly, and cheaply, goods and people could move across the nation. As a result, by the end of the 19th century, the U.S. was on the road to becoming an economic dynamo. It was ready to leap to the 1920s when the auto made a national highway system a necessity.

2021 Act

Returning to where we began with low bridges and slower trains, we can conclude with the billions in spending allocated by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the act was initially implemented during the Biden administration. We can see its scope but not its specific progress here.

My sources and more: It is always wonderful when two seemingly disparate articles converge. As a result, these stories of low bridges and slower Amtrak trains together confirmed the big picture conveyed by the ASCE report card. In addition, do take a look here to compare global road quality. But please note that while the graphic is labeled 2025, their data mostly came from sources with 2019 and 2022 numbers.

Several of today’s sentences were is a part econlife post.