Examines the aging infrastructures of transportation, energy, and water and waste management in America.

The new model for meeting America's infrastructure needs involves collaboration and private sector investment. Mary Scott Nabers describes in detail the development of public-private partnerships where private sector capital helps finance the projects while government, representing taxpayers, retains ownership and oversight of public assets.

This series introduces readers to some of today's most pressing issues. Each book offers an objective, non-biased exploration of its subject, and engages the reader while avoiding sensationalism. Readers will learn about topics such as homelessness in the United States, laser-powered fusion energy, government intervention in business, the U.S. auto industry, failed states, modern-day piracy, the Taliban, and the rebuilding of America's infrastructure. Each book features a striking design and photographs that draw in the reader. This set makes often-complicated current events accessible for students, and can help any reader reach a greater understanding of the events that shape our world.

A renowned historian and engineer explores the past, present, and future of America's crumbling infrastructure. Acclaimed engineer and historian Henry Petroski explores our core infrastructure from both historical and contemporary perspectives, explaining how essential their maintenance is to America's economic health. Petroski reveals the genesis of the many parts of America's highway system--our interstate numbering system, the centerline that divides roads, and such taken-for-granted objects as guardrails, stop signs, and traffic lights--all crucial to our national and local infrastructure. A compelling work of history, The Road Taken is also an urgent clarion call aimed at American citizens, politicians, and anyone with a vested interest in our economic well-being. Physical infrastructure in the United States is crumbling, and Petroski reveals the complex and challenging interplay between government and industry inherent in major infrastructure improvement. The road we take in the next decade toward rebuilding our aging infrastructure will in large part determine our future national prosperity.

Engineers argue that inadequate maintenance of roads, bridges, airports, waterways, and other critical aspects of infrastructure along with underinvestment have created an infrastructure crisis in the United States. Many politicians agree with this claim and are attempting to take action. However, we are faced with the issue of which projects are most essential and how to fund them. Is the state of America's infrastructure that dire compared to the rest of the world? Are these efforts to improve it a cynical ploy from politicians to gain attention and ensure reelection? This volume considers the many perspectives of this pressing issue.