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"  For years, anyone driving through Grapevine, Texas, just north of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, has needed patience--and a knack for navigating the maze of underpasses and off-speed merging lanes that make up the city&amp;#039;s notorious &amp;quot;Grapevine funnel.&amp;quot; That may change over the next five years, with an influx of funding provided by the $787.2 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which sets aside up to $135 billion for infrastructure projects.  In addition to roads and bridges, initiatives such as smart electric grids and high-speed rail received funding--along with attention from politicians and pundits quick to seize on a new set of buzzwords. There&amp;#039;s just one problem: While the law was designed to provide immediate stimulus to the economy, only a portion of the infrastructure pot targets areas where money can be dispersed both quickly and wisely. The risk of wasteful spending and missed opportunities seems great. But so does the potential to address real infrastructure challenges--and we know where to begin. Here are five of the most critical issues addressed by the legislation, and what PM thinks should be done with the money. 1. Air Traffic Control Up to $150 million Last year, nearly one in four U.S. flights was delayed. The Federal Aviation Administration anticipates increasing air travel--and a painfully slow update of the creaky air traffic control system that exacerbates delays. Implementing NextGen, an overhaul that will include new radar and cockpit technology, could cost $35 billion through 2025. The ARRA missed an opportunity by providing only $150 million for the initiative. Where to start? NextGen already is improving operations at major airports in Atlanta, Dallas and Phoenix. According to the Air Transport Association of America, six major components of the system--from updated satellite technology to display upgrades--are ready to go. This is one instance where Congress should allocate more money. NextGen isn&amp;#039;t vaporware. It&amp;#039;s real technology that the country needs now.  &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; For more on how the U.S. can get flights running on time, read 10 Ways to Fix Air Travel. 2. Water Systems $6 billion Droughts and population growth have left 36 states facing potential drinking-water shortages within the next five years. Coping with the crisis may require everything from higher water rates to more gray-water recycling. Some measures will be controversial, but plugging leaks shouldn&amp;#039;t be--and billions of gallons of water leak from faulty municipal pipes each day.  Where to start? The first step in reining in the waste is to figure out exactly where leaks are likely to occur, and with what severity. &amp;quot;If there&amp;#039;s a pothole in a road, you see it, you complain,&amp;quot; Virginia Tech professor Sunil Sinha says. &amp;quot;The challenge here is no one complains because you can&amp;#039;t see the problem.&amp;quot; Last year, Sinha spearheaded a project with the Environmental Protection Agency to create a national database of water systems, with interactive maps and tools for predicting failures. Utility companies in 17 major cities are cooperating, but many smaller utilities can&amp;#039;t afford to participate. Currently, $10 million devoted to data collection might do more good than a dozen pricier water projects that lead to ribbon-cutting ceremonies.  &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Last year, Popular Mechanics hosted a panel at its PM-NSF Bridges to the Future Summit on improving America&amp;#039;s water supply. Read more about it here. And in November PM Science Editor Jennifer Bogo hosted a panel on how to save and purify the world&amp;#039;s water supply. 3. Smart Electric Grid $4.5 billion The smart grid has become a favorite talking point for policymakers. Since 2005, a number of test projects have shown how better sensors, communication devices and control systems eventually could make power generation, transmission and usage more efficient and reliable. Ultimately, the smart grid may prevent disruptions like the one that left 50 million residents of the Northeast without power in 2003. Where to start? Promising grid upgrades are already underway in Boulder, Colo., and Austin, Texas. But before expanding such programs, we should give the National Institute of Standards and Technology the time it needs to untangle an emerging Gordian knot of overlapping technologies. (The ARRA provides funding for this effort.) &amp;quot;There are about 200 different standards that apply to the technology in the smart grid, and another 60 or 70 that apply to smarter appliances,&amp;quot; says Kurt Yeager, executive director of the Galvin Electricity Initiative. &amp;quot;If the socket in the wall only matches one manufacturer&amp;#039;s appliance, that&amp;#039;s not going to work.&amp;quot;  &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; PM Contributing Editor Erik Sofge weighs on on what a &amp;quot;smart grid&amp;quot; really means. 4. High-Speed Rail $8 billion  Americans spend hundreds of millions of hours each year waiting for delayed flights, and 4.2 billion hours a year stuck in traffic. A partial answer that has been trumpeted for decades is a network of bullet trains like those in Europe and Japan, which zip along at 180 mph or more. Where to start? There&amp;#039;s just one problem with Euro-style bullet trains: They require new track, and building even a small regional system would cost many times the $8 billion set aside in the legislation. The realistic alternative is to upgrade existing lines for low-level high-speed rail, with trains that run at 110 mph. A good candidate for such an upgrade is the Midwest Regional Rail System, which could link nine states and most of the Midwest&amp;#039;s population centers. Higher-speed trains would cut travel time from Chicago to St. Louis or Detroit, providing a viable alternative to driving and reducing pressure on the overcrowded O&amp;#039;Hare International Airport. The estimated cost, conveniently, is $8 billion.  &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; For more on bullet trains vs. higher speed trains on preexisting lines, check out Contributing Editor&amp;#039;s S.E. Kramer&amp;#039;s article weighing the advantages and disadvantages of laying new track here. Plus, back in 2007, PM examined CO2 emissions of high speed maglev vs. steel wheel vs. diesel-powered trains. 5. Roads and Bridges $27.5 billion  A new study by the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that one-third of major U.S. roads are in poor or mediocre condition, and 26 percent of the nation&amp;#039;s bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The situation is nearly unchanged since the ASCE released its previous report, in 2005.  Where to start? Some of the first highway projects funded under the ARRA were &amp;quot;pavement rehabilitation&amp;quot; in New Hampshire and roadway resurfacing in Maryland. Such maintenance is important, but it won&amp;#039;t improve transportation over the long haul. A better model is supplied by the Texas Department of Transportation, which is ready to go with a number of meaningful projects that have been planned for years, notably a new 16-mile route through Grapevine. The roadways promise to reduce congestion, benefiting the local economy while reducing pollution and delays. &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; The newly re-built bridge in Minnesota contains some lessons on how to fix America&amp;#039;s roadways. In the meantime, you can track where the ARRA&amp;#039;s road and bridges funds are going here. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a4268/4316691/>