The Hill News

American motorists drove almost 3 trillion miles in 2011. That’s like driving from the Earth to the sun and back almost 13,500 times. The average American family drives 22,500 miles a year going to work, to the store, to visit friends and relatives, or to go on vacation. Sadly, more and more of those trips are made on roads and bridges that are disintegrating.

Nationwide, almost one out of every five miles of our major highways is in poor or mediocre condition, and nearly one out of every four bridges is structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Think of it this way â€" on your next trip, count the number of bridges you drive over or pass under, and mark every fourth bridge as a failure. You’re not alone. On an average day in the United States, almost 283 million vehicles cross a structurally deficient bridge.

That should tell you how serious our nation’s infrastructure problems are. It should also tell you why the American Energy & Infr! astructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7) is critical for our nation’s safety and economic health. H.R. 7 commits the United States to a five-year, $260 billion program to rebuild and restore our highways and bridges. It reforms transportation programs, removes barriers to domestic energy production, and strengthens our economy.

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