A fierce storm dumped massive amounts of water in New York City, overwhelming much of the city’s infrastructure, particularly the subway system. It’s a sad reflection of our priorities and an embarrassment to the richest nation in the world.
Flooded Subways New York City – How Bad Will Our Infrastructure Get?
Disturbing pictures and videos have emerged from New York City this week detailing the damage from a torrential rainstorm that overwhelmed the city’s network of drains, pipes, and water treatment systems.
While sewage flowing into the basement of city residents might be the most disturbing side of the news, video of the flooded subway system strikes me as the saddest.
View this post on Instagram
We are the wealthiest nation in the world, now and over history. This is the best we can do?
It does appear that climate change is going to bring on some very odd weather patterns that will lead to periods of intense flooding. Old systems are not prepared for this. But that is no excuse: the cost of deferring infrastructure updates just makes the final bill even higher. We see the problem coming. We’ve seen it coming for years.
I’m not attacking New York City or any big city in particular. This isn’t simply a red versus blue or a city versus rural issue. Rather, it strikes me every time I visit Europe or East Asia how pathetic our infrastructure is in this country. Isn’t this something we can all agree on? And isn’t this precisely what our tax dollars should be centered on improving?
Starting fresh after WWII may have helped much of Western Europe, but the priority to create functional roads, airports, and train networks that are clean and safe has had such an impact on quality of life and economic efficiency.
I live in Los Angeles. The common excuse is the city is too spread out for public transportation to be useful, but that is not the case. I’d love to use public transport more, but I don’t want to step onto a bus or train and fear for my safety or deal with the smell of urine and pot. And I am not going to use public transport when it takes significantly longer than driving, even when roads are clogged.
This is certainly a complex issue and I don’t mean to reduce it superficially. My point is simple: I wish our elected leaders took our infrastructure issues more seriously and that we the people would realize that nice things cost money. Debate all day about whether our tax dollars should be used to build our roads, not Ukrainian bombs, but the status quo is too little, too late for our infrastructure.
It’s only going to get worse unless all sides unite on this making this a higher priority. Travelers like us should appreciate the problem even more.
> Read More: My (Mis)Adventures On The Dallas Dart…
Democrats run the into the ground.
They can only stay in power by pushing their grievance politics to keep their leech voters voting for them.
Stupid and inaccurate.
Yeah, how dare he pick on the politicians that love you soooo much and aren’t stealing your tax dollars at all…..
You partisans are so annoying.
Oh, don’t be such a hypocrite.
Oh look, that’s the same Aaron who said he wanted the legal age of consent abolished.
I spent 15 years on the UWS and felt as if I had lost a bit of my soul every time I went down into that cesspool. Thankfully, that wasn’t all that often since I pedaled my way around mostly.
The MTA is a massive jobs program/slush fund. The worse it gets the more money for funding they can call for….it never seems enough to make it any better though.
One of the things I love about living in the DMV is that we are a model city in the U.S. as to infrastructure. We have the best Metro system in the U.S. with clean stations, modern and clean trains, and an extensive route network. As well a good regional train system with MARC and VRE into the more distant populated areas. Three fantastic airports that are well run, and provide a vast domestic and global network. Our roads are comparably very good versus the rest of the country (although traffic remains an issue on some). The majority of our roads are without tolls (other than if you opt for the express lanes on certain sections). Even unique road features like the dedicated Dulles Access road that is unique (well, I guess other than DEN) and makes for much less stress in getting to IAD. Oh, and the city itself is walkable and pleasant. More of the country should be like DC. Although I could say that Seattle and Chicago are also not too bad.
You’re joking, right? The metro is one of the most unreliable and unsafe mass transit systems in the world. The WMATA is one of the most corrupt and money wasting entities planet.
I’m hoping this was sarcasm.
Financial aspects aside, the actual trains and the system is clean, safe, and modern. The financial and corrupt aspects are another story. Regardless of that it functions as the best metro system in the U.S.
@ Albert.
Hitachi is building a factory my town to replace the cars. It is both safe and reliable.
Literally nobody knows what the DMV is. You live in an office that issues drivers licenses? Sad. You sound fat, too.
No Lowretta..
Don’t be jealous! He is the sexiest guy on the planet! You however are the old dude who trolls. Sad
The region has devolved into a cultureless concrete wasteland, made possible by the grift of defense contractors and other taxpayer dependents. DC would be nothing but a swamp if not for rampant corruption.
LAMTA was the only transportation agency I ever dealt with that required you to indemnify them for their mistakes. Everyone bought special (expensive) insurance for this and passed the costs on. They paid more per mile for their subways than any municipality in the world.
Not to mention they had a 40% small business (minority carve out) clause in their contracts. We paid minority subcontractors to literally do nothing. Those costs were passed along too.
NYCTA was worse in many ways- so crooked it was deplorable- nothing but a handout for the lazy and corrupt.
BTW Stuart there are many areas in DC you wouldn’t dare walk in. And it’s a ghost town after dark with rampant crime.
Lol. Umm, you clearly do not have any clue as to the reality. Are there bad sections of DC? Of course, like any city in the world. Much less though than you saw back in the day. The NW is as safe as anywhere in Europe at night and vibrant with incredible restaurants, events, and the like. Even sections like SW and NE are vastly improving and attracting a young crowd for both living and entertainment. Either you have not been to DC in many years or living in some parallel universe. Really, I have no clue how one of America’s most vibrant and exciting cities is somehow an empty cesspool to you. SMH.
It’s the people that make DC horrible. A city packed with the 12th most popular person in High School.
No, the joke about DC is that it’s Hollywood for ugly people.
@ Cat
Geez to bad you focused on popularity rather than education.
These people haven’t been to places like DC, they just regurgitate idiot and false talking points.
>Are there bad sections of DC?
They were good boys who were going to get their edumacashun.
People are selfish and only want something that helps them immediately. Long term planning for most isn’t something they care about.
One thing that Trump wanted to do was infrastructure but Republicans quickly shut him down on that. Both parties and most voters are at fault. They want everything to work without paying anything in taxes. Continued tax cuts over the last few years just makes things worse.
Of course incompetent private and government agencies are to blame as well. You have incompetent people running agencies at time but you also have private companies stealing money (directly or indirectly) from state/federal agencies.
And it isn’t just the infrastructure it is everything in society. Help/support/etc. provided by companies is minimal. Airlines have cut things to the bone and every problem that occurs causes hours long hold time.
Quality of life has peaked for now.
When tax rates are what they are, and the budget is 5 trillion bucks, I get why nobody votes for more taxes. Why don’t they do very some of the twinkie funs for the lazy to actuality doing some good? Defense spending is 1 trillion+. Medicare/caid SSI is like 3.5 trillion. Until we acknowledge that social spending has long been out of control, nothing with change. That doesn’t even include state/local budgets and taxation. The problem is continuing to believe the government is the best method for infrastructure maintenance and not user fees.
The easy out is to blame climate change, then you never have to fix anything or worse, have an excuse to ramp up taxes for meaningless projects when all was required was maintaining the existing infrastructure.
NW DC is not indicative of the rest of the city. That’s where the rich white people live.
This year DC has surpassed 200 homicides for the year at the earliest point since 1997- and we still have three months to go. Your depiction of DC as some kind of nirvana that’s getting safer is a joke. Look at the facts.
Maybe ask the people who actually live in DC what it’s like to live there?
Oh please cairns,
It is a city I love. Unless you are involved in nefarious activities, you will be safe. Please come and visit
@Cairns
Umm, DC is currently ranked 19th in the country as far as murder rates. You clearly live in the past of years ago. And no, NW is not the only place. As I said above SW and NE has vibrant new neighborhoods that are quite exciting with new restaurants and nightlife. Either you’re trolling or you’ve actually not been to DC in 20 years.
I live in the DMV so my thoughts: Indeed, perhaps WMATA has the best metro system in the country overall but that’s a rather backhanded compliment to the USA in general. The DC metro is “meh”. Dual tracking on most lines meaning that there’s no express trains and if there’s a breakdown, single tracking will create massive delays. The trains are reasonably safe on most lines although when I’m on the green line I carefully pick a wagon that’s well populated. There used to be a rule that eating on the trains and busses would result in fines and this helped to keep them clean, but that may have slacked off during the pandemic.
As Matt says, but doesn’t want to set off a political debate, it takes just a few bad apples to run the barrel. One smelly pot smoker or lunatic can make a bus ride hell for everyone. A few times I would quietly act as if I needed to get off at the station and then switch to another wagon.
Gentrified DC neighborhoods have fancy restaurants, if you can afford them but the architecture reminds me of the USSR. There’s little anyone would fly into the USA to visit and marvel at. Car and wheel theft are a problem (reminds me of the old days back in the 1970’s). In the 1970’s, the hoods stole car radios, now they steal wheels and catalytic converters.
God forbid cutting onto the +$2 trillion military/intelligence/crime industrial complex so the serfs can have some semblance of quality of life. No, let’s cut social security for grandma so Bezos and Koch can buy another yacht. ‘Murica.
Violent crime is rising in the nation’s capital. DC seeks solutions….Jul 29- ABC
Violent crime in DC is on the rise. 7News wants to know do you feel …May 23 WJLA
Surge of homicides in D.C. leaves 13 dead in August’s first 5 days Aug 23 WaPo
Crime is so bad in DC that Congress is distributing tips to avoid being carjacked in capital Sep 23 JTN
Just a few of the dozens of headlines you get when you google “DC crime”….
All that money spent on housing, feeding, clothing, entertaining, and schooling illegals and kids of illegals who human traffic themselves and cause the overpopulation, drain on infrastructure, and crime could be used to upgrade these systems. Same with the hundreds of billions sent or that will be sent to fund war in ukraine, 20 years of Middle East wars, trillions to defense contractors for unneeded equipment whether it’s the junk F-35, the V-22 death trap, the KC-46 clunker, the DDG, or 10 aircraft carriers that are child’s play for hypersonic missiles.
NYC is a victim of both legal and illegal immigration, unions, and corrupted government that worries more about pronouns than safety. They could stop enforcing anti freedom drug laws and reduce the costs and burdens on the system, they can reduce ridiculous regulations that make doing business though, and they can stop encouraging people to flood the city but they don’t.
There is no good solution for NYC. It is too big to ever make sound. By the time a road is replaced, it needs to be repaired again. Same with the subway system. If most of the NYC residents didn’t have kids and no new sales or rentals went through over 50 years, that would be a way to improve NYC. Then planned cities could be built but only if those who build can choose what groups are allowed to move in. Otherwise, the usual,suspects will ruin everything like they did with NYC.
Oh brother.
Dogas,
We already covered your F 35 stupidity. Please stop repeating the rhetoric you have been fed. Think for yourself and attempt to be original! Then people might take you seriously. I will look forward to that.
Have more illegals. Send them to this moron’s house. I hope you’re really going to feel it.
Thumbs up
Americans are used to it by now. We are funding the war in Ukraine with billions of taxpayer dollars, and funding all wars, while we go over potholes on our streets, and living with decaying infrastructure.
Tony N,
If you’re suffering from pot holes, try Arnold’s approach and start doing what needs doing in your own community. We cannot relay on expecting help for what we can do ourselves 😉
Then why should we be paying taxes with no return on investment so fatties can buy twinkies?
Because federal money doesn’t fund potholes (unless interstate) that’s what state/ county/city taxes are for. Keeps us connected to our local government and also plays into community service, we should all be involved. In my pretend perfect world, we would all be better off.
Maryland with the mic drop. Thanks for educating those who have trouble understanding local versus national.
@Maryland –
Why did you say “white people should die”? You still mean that or was it good it was removed?
On a household level, taxes that end up in the US Treasury take away from resources available for state/local projects, unless you’re suggesting people get fucked on both levels. Different levels of government may have separate “buckets” but families have just one.
There has been climate change for the last 20,000 or so years (since the end of the last ice age)
Hey CHRIS,
Please continue. as I am waiting for your point?
Why did you comment that white people should be exterminated?
Flooded subways are not just in America. It has happened in London, Singapore, and Munich.
Los Angeles has such low population density that an extensive subway system would be a huge waste of money.
In Seattle, they started a light rail line to the airport that takes longer than the bus did. That is because the bus drove in a straight line to the airport while light rail took a route that politicians wanted, going to out of the way neighborhoods.
It’s neither the fault of Democrats or Republicans. It’s our fault as voters for accepting a system that allows Trump and Biden to even be the nominees, or at least presumptive.
We deserve whatever hardships befall our nation if anyone thinks either deserves to be president. I wouldn’t let either one of them manage my business. Do my taxes. Babysit my kids. Or change a tire. Let alone run my country.
Matthew, returning to the actual point of your post (!)… yes, all of this. I lived in the EU and UK all summer and only used public transport which, obviously, was easy to do. I am back in the DFW area until December and while I hate driving, I have no choice. The past week, we have had horrific AQI due to ground level ozone, mostly. I am deeply affected by climate and air quality (something I never even thought about until it affected my health). I grew up in southern CA and could not live using public transport there either, for the reasons you mention.
In January, I will be commuting back and forth monthly, and I do not intend to bring my car. So I am looking for places to go with both cleaner air and better climates–and good public transport. You would be amazed how difficult that is to find (or maybe you would not). And I think that is part of your point.
Meanwhile, you make posts like this and the comments become a stream of red vs. blue and why DC people suck or something.
Man, what is the point of 2/3rds of these comments? That our state of infrastructure is “not that bad” lmao?
And lol at the DC gatekeeping. Exorbitant costs of living, yet still in the top 5 in homicides per capita, but I guess the rich people area is alright, as long as the ghetto folk don’t encroach them, all is good, right?
It says that DC is like most other major cities, it has it’s mostly good areas and a few bad areas?
It’s currently ranked 19th. Not 5th.
Ethical and rational people do not enter politics. Politicians do not act in the interest of the people. If they did we would have healthcare, infrastructure, a fair tax system, and reasonable business regulations. Things like this are not controversial, yet politicians act only in the interest of themselves and their donors, so we don’t have nice things that we see all around the world.
That is true. Bullies want to be politicians. They can be charming when campaigning but then do whatever they want.
Actually, we are the 7th richest country in the world.
In all fairness, we are talking about a system that was started in 1904. It is surprising it still kinda works. Most of it is below the water table. What could possibly go wrong?
“…unless all sides unite on this making this a higher priority.” Well Matthew, you can hope such in LA. I live down in Orange County south of you. The Transit Agency here has been rebuilding much of the 405 and its bridges between the I-5 and the LA County line to improve traffic flow. That effort will soon be completed. However, the great mouthpiece of progressive journalism, the LA Times, published an article on the 405 project, quoting a professor from CalPoly who called the project “classist” and “racist”. Maybe the Times is correct, because the progress ends at the LA County line. There may be some small improvements/maintenance on the roads up around LA, but nothing on the scale that the OC is doing. But good luck up there.
Koggerj-I agree..right on!!AARon-u have NO Clue!! Chris you are correct with climate change–been going on for decades..nothing has changed… but we sure have lots of excess water..so why not put it to good use… vs making people not use it or complain about it…
The answer is simple. America spends trillions on “nation building”, “NASA”, and other projects thanks to its flawed belief that it is somehow the “greatest nation” on the planet. The country’s infrastructure is crumbling. Politically, the country is a cocktail party joke and its debt is reaching the point where in less than a decade, America will look a lot like Argentina.
I’ve always said that NYC subways should have platform screen doors with how much people gets pushed to their deaths there. But damn, it will end up making the subway cars a submarine lmao.
That said, I guess housing illegal mutts that are here to drain the hell out of our resources and cause a crime rampage is more important than our people, eh?
Terrible, racist comment (mutts, really?) What about the crime rampage committed on January 6th?
Lowretta,
Oh did I get your name wrong? What foolishness. You weren’t funny after 2006, and you’re not amusing now. Too bad. Been there don’t care
I don’t understand- I thought you could walk around in DC after dark. And you didn’t need a car……
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/rep-henry-cuellar-carjacked-home-washington-dc-rcna118517
Ukraine and Israel need more money
Illegal immigrants need more money
Single mothers who divorced their husbands need more money
Corporations need more money
Nato needs more money
Drug addicts need more money
Gangbangers need more money
Infrastructure? Nah
The USA is a joke, the only things that matter anymore are gun rights and overall lower cost of living and a Bill of Rights and even those are being taken away from us.