The Case For Infrastructure Investment, Made Through Maps

Esri has released the informative “story map,” A Nation Derailed: How America’s transportation infrastructure fell into disrepair—and why we need to fix it, quick. Building upon the recently released Infrastructure Report Card by the American Society of Civil Engineers, as well as popular campaign rhetoric by President Trump, Esri tells the story of America’s needs to invest in roads, bridges, railways, ports, and airports.

From the report:

America’s vast transportation infrastructure is one of the nation’s most impressive modern achievements. This sprawling network of roads, bridges, railways, ports, waterways, and airports stretches from sea to sea, enabling the rapid distribution of people, goods, services, and even ideas throughout the country and beyond. It is the connective tissue that physically unites the nation, and it’s critical for the prosperity of the American economy.

We often consider transportation infrastructure within the context of our personal lives—commuting to work on the Interstate, for example, or flying home for the holidays. But the primary purpose of America’s transportation infrastructure is to facilitate the movement of materials and manufactured products. The U.S. freight system moves roughly 55 million tons of goods—worth just under $50 billion—every single day.

The highlight of the report is the series of visually pleasing interactive maps providing a significant amount of detailed data.