U.S. Infrastructure Problems Told in 10 Scary Numbers

If you need proof the United States is a dangerous place to live - crime aside -  just take a look at the massive scope of U.S. infrastructure problems.

CBS's "60 Minutes" highlighted this plight Sunday with a feature on how our roads and bridges are decaying, how our airports have become antiquated, and how our seaports are heading for extinction.

"Our infrastructure is on life support right now," Ray LaHood, former secretary of transportation during the first Obama administration and a former seven-term Republican congressman from Illinois, told "60 Minutes." "You could go to any major city in America and see roads and bridges and infrastructure that need to be fixed today."

U.S. infrastructure problems are so bad, the country has slipped from having the world's best infrastructure to No. 16, according to the World Economic Forum.

That's why LaHood, currently co-chairman of Building America's Future, a bipartisan coalition of current and former elected officials, is pressing for more broad-based funding for infrastructure spending needed in every state. Public spending on infrastructure has shrunk to its lowest level since 1947.

Here are some of the numbers "60 Minutes" presented - plus a few we dug up on our own - that show the sorry state of U.S. infrastructure.

The Scary Story of U.S. Infrastructure Problems in 10 Numbers

70,000: The number of bridges in America - one out of every nine - deemed structurally deficient. A structurally deficient designation means a bridge needs to either be replaced or repaired in a "dramatic" way.

U.S. infrastructure problems4,000: Number of bridges (20%) in Pittsburgh alone that are structurally deficient. That includes the city's key bridge - the Liberty Bridge. Five million people in Pittsburgh cross bridges daily that need replacing or major repairs - a little ironic in the "City of Bridges."

13: The number of people who died when the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed Aug. 1, 2007, in Minnesota. Another 145 were injured. It happened during rush hour. A National Transportation Safety Board report on the cause of the crash indicated a ripped sheet of steel that was too thin led to the collapse.

240,000: The number of water main breaks per year in the United States due to aging pipes and mainlines. A vast number of pipes and mains in the United States are more than 100 years old and in dire need of replacement so that drinking water remains free of contaminants. Assuming every pipe needs to be replaced, the cost over the coming decades could reach more than $1 trillion, according to the American Water Works Association.

$22 billion: The cost of airport congestion and delays annually due to inadequate infrastructure. If current federal funding levels are maintained, the Federal Aviation Administration anticipates the cost of congestion and delays to the economy will rise from $34 billion in 2020 to $63 billion by 2040.

2: The number of major ports on the East Coast that will be dredged deep enough to handle looming transport changes in the next year or so. Out of the east's 14 ports, these are the only ones that can accommodate the big cargo ships that will be able to pass through an expanded Panama Canal in the next year or so.

0: The miles of high-speed rail in the United States, compared to the more than 14,000 around the globe. Europe and China are way ahead of the United States on this front. High-speed rail was slated as U.S. President Barack Obama's signature transportation project. About $11 billion has been spent on related rail projects since 2009, without any completed.

17,000: Miles of additional high-voltage transmission lines, in addition to significant oil and gas pipeline, needed over the next five years to meet growing demand for electricity, natural gas, and oil. Permit, site, and funding issues threaten their completion.

14,000: The number of high-hazard dams in the United States. The average age of the 84,000 dams in the country is 52 years. That's troubling because as dams age, risks grow. The number of deficient dams is estimated at more than 4,000, which includes 2,000 deficient high-hazard dams. The Association of State Dam Safety Officials estimates $21 billion is needed to repair these aging, yet critical, high-hazard dams.

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44: Number of months that Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-OR, has tried to get a hearing on transportation finance. He's concerned about the Highway Trust Fund, which is running out of money. There has been no hearing.

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