would bridge work get the economy on track?

Bridge work...what bridge work? You know the thousands of bridges, roads and highways across the US. So just how many jobs would be created through a massive multi-year projects to upgrade infrastructure? Well no one knows exactly but it wouldn't be hard to see one million or more jobs created from construction projects. Yes, at least one million if not more. So how much spending are we talking about to put a million people to work? Well, don't get mad at the messenger but numbers are floating around in the trillions of dollars - currently projected at 2 trillion dollars of spending on infrastructure projects.

Why in the world would anyone spend that kind of capital on bridges and roads that technically are still functioning? Well, for starters most of the current bridges and roads are now over 40 years old. Second, is it better to be proactive and spend now or wait to more bridges collapse like I-35 in Minnesota? The bottom line is that we pay now or pay later and like the credit card companies say, "it's cheaper to pay now versus later." In other words it typically costs a lot more to pay on the backend after a catastrophe has occurred. Geeez this is the US - where are the standards? Bridges collapse in China but not in the US - at least that was the standard of the past but it looks like the tide has changed. So would bridge work get the economy back on track? Well, putting one million people to work certainly qualifies as an economic lift. Moreover, if done correctly such an economic jolt would likely cause other economic sectors to get back on track too.