If we don’t give more thought to infrastructure, we’re sunk

As you can read elsewhere in today’s paper, the USGS expert on sinkholes says the ground underneath Highway 92 won’t dissolve into a sinkhole the way it might in Florida or Texas. But it just might wash away as a result of aging pavement and culverts, deferred maintenance or inadequate planning.

To the untrained eye, the hole in Highway 92 just happened in a flash. In truth it was a long time coming. The dip didn’t show itself until last week, but a discerning engineer surely would have predicted it with a little literal and figurative digging. Maybe we should call the hole a harbinger. For we will surely be seeing more infrastructure failures in the years to come.

Has your power been off at all since the New Year? It’s been 15 years since the American Society of Civil Engineers issued a scathing report comparing the nation’s electric grid to less developed countries. In 2019, the same professional organization gave California a grade of C- for its infrastructure. Roads fared worse, earning a D. The ASCE said California’s roads were among the worst in the nation, costing state residents $61 billion annually due to traffic delays, damaged cars and other headaches caused by the condition of our roads. The state’s stormwater system, much of it configured 80 years ago, earned a D+. As Coastsiders know, both the Sewer Authority Mid-coastside and the Pacifica municipal wastewater system struggled to keep up with overflow during recent rain events.

The Biden Administration recognized the need for renewed infrastructure in the aptly named Build Back Better Act. It provides $14 billion for California’s aging transportation system and another $1.2 billion to maintain clean water. It will pay for high-speed internet and to modernize the state’s airports.

The need is enormous and it’s easy to get lost in such big numbers. As anyone with a water heater or a refrigerator knows, big purchase items are often forgotten until they stop working. Then one day there is a hole the size of a fishing boat in the middle of the road preventing you from getting to work. And so you start to think about infrastructure.

No one in particular is to blame for the hole on Highway 92. Caltrans failed to adequately plan for what would happen when a torrent of rain fell on the most important road for miles. The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors didn’t prioritize it either. We didn’t hear anyone on the Half Moon Bay City Council speak up about the chronic ponding on the shoulders of the main road into town. Pacifica City Council members know they have some of the worst roads in the entire Bay Area, but they haven’t found a way to adequately address the problem. You probably don’t think much about drainage either. I know I don’t.

Now here we are.

— Clay Lambert