Before the COVID-19 pandemic, motorists each day drove about 8.8 billion miles on American roadways, while the U.S. railroad system carried 85,000 passengers and 5 million tons of freight. Though travel habits have shifted since the coronavirus outbreak, transportation infrastructure remains vital to the health of the U.S. economy.
Despite the importance of a reliable transportation network, upkeep of critical infrastructure is being neglected across the country as roads, bridges, and railroads age. Nationwide, 21.8% of roads are in poor condition, 7.6% of bridges are in need of replacement or repair, and there have been 4.8 derailments for every 100 miles of train track from 2015 to 2019, the most common cause of which are broken rails or welds. In some states, these figures are far worse, indicating a threat to not only the economy, but to public health and safety as well.