America's Dams Are Falling Apart
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- Why some of the USA's most important infrastructure is in danger.
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I may be dense or overlooking the obvious. But what does B1M mean?
I almost didn't watch that video- glad I got to finally see the B1M do a video on a project in my home state :)
The words of Winston Churchill you can count on the United States to do the right thing after its tried everything else
There's nothing more permanent than a temporary solution.
Haha, well said.
You must be a software developer as well
Nothing is tighter than stripped!
@_JamesBrown
Haha yeah I tried to undo a propane fitting the other day the laborer put on way too tight and damn near stripped ir
A quote of dear ol' Ronnie was it not?
This reminds me of an old line from a TV commercial: "You can pay me now or pay me later". It was about deferring an smaller expense now will cost you more later. Doing a $500,000 fix ten years ago would save a $2,000,000 fix today. It is always much more expensive later when deterioration has further progressed.
Exactly this 💯
Or even better, build things better in the first place.
@@searchingfortruth619 Nothing lasts forever.
@@searchingfortruth619everything has a lifespan. Usually they can be extemded by good maintenance, but it eventually will need replacement.
Very few things can be built to last 100 years. Especially if they are some sort of active structure.
And not just the increasing cost of deterioration amelioration. Putting the simple stuff like inflation aside too, there's the hard to stomach, hard to pin down, hard to justify dark art of jobs for the boys cost increases with unfathomable explanations.
Not too long ago here in Britain, national level infrastructure projects or power stations for instance, were to be had for tens or hundreds of millions of pounds.
Then without anyone raising an eyebrow or making a fuss it seems, similarly _grand projets_ now come in at the billion pound mark.
That's the best and most urgent reason for your common sense approach of 'build it/repair it and reconstruct it now' that there can be.
The fact of the matter is that a lot of these systems need to be completely replaced not simply band-aided. Unfortunately stopping the movement of commerce in any way in the short-term is politically non viable to nearly all politicians.
Exactly!
That's one of the biggest hurdle democracies have to face time and time again.
To achieve significant changes you almost always have to start with big compromises. But before the benefits of those changes really come to show, the legislative period is over.
So the government that introduced the changes will be associated with the compromises and not the benefits.
So not only do they risk being reelected but also risk that the following opposing government gets associated with the benefits of the changes the first party introduced.
Or the following government just demolishes everything the previous has started, before the benefits show.
But a majority of the voters are too dumb to recognize this
That's one of the big problems. Changes on the scale of a country or global scale take much longer to show their effects than a legislative period is. That's why many know what the right thing to do would be, but they don't have the balls to do it because it'll almost certainly cost them the next election.
This problem exists in pretty much every democracy.
USA suffer from this even more because it's basically a two-party system.
reality itself will force them
I can think at least one way it could potentially be done but then we are facing the other issue: making provisions for the replacement of this infrastructure in a way that doesn't cut traffic for months/years would take even more time and money.
If you know you’re going to need it for more than 100 years, make it out of materials that last at least that long or make it such that it can be serviced. Doing anything else is a waste.
GOOD, finally spending money on American infrastructure. Next the road bridges and rail systems!
They have been Rebuilding the Busy railroad line between Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York so Amtrak can improve speeds
@@IndustrialParrot2816nowhere near fast enough, it's estimated to take longer than it took india to electrify its entire network; longer than it took china to build all of its HSR; longer than HS2 in the UK
@@KingFinnchTo speed things up USA should get China to build it's infrastructure 😁
The same law that provides funding for waterways also provides funding for bridges, roads, and rails.
Plenty of repairs and maintenance going on in recent years along the Erie Canal, including locks and bridges.
If it’s a US based topic/project, this channel goes all in on the negatives - if it’s Europe/Asia, even the white elephant projects in the Middle East - everything is bubblegum and rainbows. Standard euro arrogance.
@ncb5455
I dunno, but im pretty certain that isnt a European channel. If its European, it's British , and that's societally ame4ican anyway.
@@eingrobernerzustand3741nah, Brits are very arrogant and condescending towards the us
Even though the technology and infrastructure are very similar, the Erie Canal isn't actually part of the inland waterways, which are the responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (federal). The Erie Canal is older, nearly two centuries old, and is the responsibility of the New York State Canal Corporation (state).
@@ncb5455 As a Brit and an engineer, I get your sentiment, but only a bit ( mainly about vanity projects). I've been telling my American family for a good many years that America needs a national strategy on infrastructure and not the political football it is. I have so much to say about infrastructure, Globally, but unfortunately not the time because I've got to go to work. With regard to " euro arrogance" well at least it's based on something, so I think you've been a bit unfair there.
Today an important bridge in my hometown (Dresden, Germany) fell apart. You cant believe, how fast this can go and how big the damage can be.
When I see him document European projects, my mind is blown. When it’s American projects, it’s all too often “ this is 40 years past. It expected lifetime”, or “ these locks could fail by 2028”.
Our grandparents invested in the future, the Boomers just took took took, and now we're having to invest again, and make up for their greed.
@@JeremyLoganbaby boomers robbed us from our futures for their own economic gains
As a European, it's quite shocking to see the state of the US!
What baffles me the most, is how old factories that are closed, are just left to rust and rotten away.
Drive by an old, closed mine and everything on the surface is just left there. In my country, you are forced to clean up, even on private ground.
@@akyhne ah yes, here the corporate profit is the most important factor in all our governments decisions
Can’t have those billionaires spending a tiny fraction of a sliver of their profits! It’s anathema ☠️
Why pay for the clean up after when the tax payers will have to when it becomes a big issue
@@JeremyLoganit wasn't the boomers that elected Ronald reagan. It was the generation before the boomers. I am a boomer and I almost flunked out of my third semester of medical school trying to prevent Ronald Reagan from being elected. He was only elected because he and his greatest generation cohorts committed treason with iran.
But the real problem here is the United States lack of democracy. The other modern democracies did things differently because because within a few decades, the anti-democratic mistakes built into the US Constitution were very apparent.
The 3/5 rule, the electoral college, only allowing white males who owned property to vote, slavery, and the indirect election of senators were almost anti-democratic features of the US Constitution when it was first made.
Those features gave more power to the wealthy. The wealthy, as They have every other time in history, use their excess power to take more and more power and wealth. This lopsided distribution of wealth destabilizes the economy
In the 1800s, the first century of capitalism, when there was very little regulation, saw more than a half a dozen depressions that were equivalent of the Great depression starting in 1929.
Why people in this country, especially white men, need to realize that economically they have more in common with minorities than they have with billionaires like Donald trump.
Today I learned US systematically transports sewage on barges (which are blocked because of a railway project) so yes this is very important.
What's going on with shipping
What is the purpose of transporting sewage?
Sewage was never once mentioned in the video.
@@JeremyLoganThey never claimed it was
This is a dam cool video
😆 classic
Take my upvote and get out of here
What to join our script writing team?!
@@TheB1M I would be interested! Formerly in the transport industry on sabbatical but just finished reviewing a couple academic papers submitted to the US National Academies yesterday. Made me wonder - "have I still got it?" Lol.
Considering how long overdue many of these replacement projects are, it also speaks for the construction techniques back in the day that these pieces of infrastructure have lasted so much longer than anticipated. Some people back then would have probably laughed you in the face if you would have told them they were stil in use in the 21st century, having thought they would have been replaced several times at that point. So, kudos to those engineers back then.
Funily enough, today part of the Carola Bridge here in Dresden, Germany collapsed during the night.
It is truly frightening that this happens even in such a rich country with so much Supervision and safety regulations as germany.
It is a miracle that nobody got hurt, and the bridge collapsed empty and not during the very busy Tram and pedestrian traffic.
The Problem of too little Infrastrukturen spending has been a big political issue for ages now, lets hope this serves as a wake up call to action
It will not be a wake up call. Sad, but true.
The policy of the Powers-That-Be appears to be the de-industrialization of Europe and North America.
even if the streetcar that had passed over it shortly before had crashed with 150 dead people, there would have been a bit of a fuss and 3 days later back to normal operation.
Well when your leader says "Wir schaffen das", then money is needed elsewhere.
You should include that the bridge was already undergoing maintenance and the part that collapsed, was the next in the schedule
So, whatever was the reason for the collapse, there was something being done already.
No fish bypass on the rewed dams?
The fish were actually really angry about that but then forgot about it 10 seconds later.
@TheB1M what a stupid response from someone who doesn't understand ecology
@@smallmovezmusic Lighten up, he was just making a JOKE 🙄
@@TheB1M 1 second actually
@@smallmovezmusic so sensitive
like most of the western world, it went from "we have to build a great nation! for the sake of our people and the rest of the world!" to "do we really have to bother with this? can't my successor do that?" and "let other handel this, they know how to make a lot of money, they will know how to do this as well. They even said they would make it cheaper."
Non compressed concrete failing after less than 100 years, what a surprise, wrong material for long term
I am so glad we got all these infrastructure packages passed.
Listening to politicians campaign to build a new highway (canal, bridge, or whatever) while at the same time promising to lower taxes and other endless bha, bla bla sounds about as old as these structures. Priorities need to shift to maintaining what we already have.
Lower taxes and more for the military. Unsustainable in the long run and since it's always more money for the military you have to raise taxes a lot.
@@grsafran You have no idea the percantage of the US federal spending is on the military compared to other things.
@@AL-lh2ht When all of these projects were built, income tax rates were MUCH higher than today. That's how we had the money to build these amazing structures.
Upgrading and Modernizing the vast amount of 1930s and 1950s infrastructure that's at the end of its service life including Railroads, Waterways, Highways, and the Power Grid
@@AL-lh2htthe Military gets a Trillion dollars every year we can afford to trim that
I love this channel. No depressing news or politics, just building stuff 😁
It’s the best around
Yeah
Thanks so much mate!
If the loss of engineering and construction because of political influence on systems crucial to societal function isn't depressing, then, sure? Lol 😅
@@thalanoth Yeah ok 👀
Much of this infrastructure needs re-thinking and replacement, especially with relation to nature. The Klamath River dams in northern California have been removed and it's helped a lot to restore the integrity of the watershed here.
It's not just the infrastructure that's failing.
Couldn't love dam engineering videos more! DAM
True fan of the puns right there.
I visited the Demopolis Lock & Dam back in 2002. My big regret is not having stopped to try the restaurant at the Demopolis Yacht Basin on my way out of town. The internet says that its name has changed a few times, but in 2002 the big sign on the roof clearly stated that its name was "Restaurant." It was across the parking lot from "Motel."
Nice fade Fred, super fresh.
Haha, thanks!
Great article and it’s needed to be heard and acted upon. I’m from these areas and your topics were a running story back 50 years ago. Thank you B1M! Hopefully people will understand the importance of new technologies and infrastructure to help upgrade these sites and sections of sorely needed attention.
When I was 17, 30 something years ago, I lied about my age one summer and signed on to a tug. We worked on the upper Mississippi and the lock system then needed overhaul. I think it’s an experience that everyone should go through a lock system at least one in their life.
Old tech still being used today, pretty darn cool to me
1 thing to remember is eastern Midwest (Pennsylvania West Virginia etc) is doubling down on fossil fuels while the western Midwest (Illinois Indiana etc) is doubling down on nuclear energy and don’t need a lot of these fixes. If Pennsylvania doesn’t diversify they’ll be left behind like West Virginia has.
This was a dam good video, Fred & TheB1M!
Thank you for bringing this important topic to the mainstream. It’s something we all depend upon but never think about.
You should do a story on the Sue Saint Marie Locks in MI and the other parts of the Great Lakes waterway.
What infrastructure in the United States isn’t crumbling?
@1:34 The map seems pretty incomplete, doesn't it? I'm pretty sure the whole system from Texas to the great lakes is connected to the east coast.
At least via lake Erie or lake Ontario
Very enjoyable as always 👍
1:10 best use of the military i have ever seen
It's just weird that money wasn't set aside when these dams were constructed to fund their eventual replacements. Have they never heard of depreciation?
There’s a thought. Slowly seed a replacement fund with dollars every fiscal year until the date is reached to replace the infrastructure.
@@ScentlessSunthese things always get cut first. To be replaced later, which eventually never happens obviously.
Better editing than most modern T.V shows! I love this channel! Thank you for all that you do.
America: Alright, alright, fine, heres $300 and some duck tape
Repeal the Jones act. Waterway usage will increase 10x, and user fees will eventually pay for the upgrades that have been needed since the 60's
💯 Came here to say that! Great example of how politicians schemes from long ago affect us now! Most of America's problems can be solved with simple reforms to update the bureaucracy to the 21st century. look at Estonia!
Fred ❤
The Army Corps of Engineers have an awful record of screwing up every project they attempt. Just look at what they did in the Florida Everglades. We’re still trying to undo their damage. 😢
If people were more interested in beating their swords into plowshares rather that beating their plowshares into swords they could actually take care of the more important things.
Someone needs to get the beaver engineers in ASAP
As a yinzer, I was not expecting to see Pittsburgh in a B1M video. Good stuff though.
As a fellow Yinzer, I was thinking the same thing.
The marine highway system is easily in my top 5 parts of american infrastructure and definitely top 3 transportation (freight and highway, transit rail is shit here and flying is terrible due to the corperations involved and monopolies)
Born and raised in Demopolis. Was totally shocked to see that as part of the video
at 1:40, you have mentioned 1/3 cargo mode through the river, and 1:55 you have mentioned 120 billion cargo moved. these 2 numbers don't match for sure.
You should check out the soo locks upgrade in michigan.
Becoming an Engineer is easier than you think! I graduated as a mature student with an upper second class degree in Electrical Engineering in 2013. I have been interviewed many times but there's always a reason why the younger applicants with lower degrees get the jobs. Still trying to start my career.
Becoming an engineer is not difficult, but university will consume your life and make you miserable for the entire time. If you are lucky, you will get burnout as well.
All in all a great time and I am happy that I am only one month away from graduation.
Thanks for the knowledge, Ross Barkley 🙏🔥
Are the Soo Locks, Straits of Mackinac, and Detroit River in Michigan not considered inland waterways? Shipping through these points alone contributes a huge amount to the GDP . However, I know (as a native Michigander) we don't really consider the Great Lakes "inland", they are more seas than lakes.
Water is really hard to stop or control
You can see the infrastructure problem all over europe. Basically, every large project like bridges has been built after WW2 when everything was booming. Now, most countries have invested far too little in the past 20 years, with only some outliers like the Scandinavians. Its gonna be interesting in the future, especially as we are spending a lot on consumption (yes social / healthcare / pension is all consumption) and very little on actual investments for the future generation.
There'd be a demographic nuance to that, some countries have populations that've declined by a lot, or very old populations where most "youth" live in the biggest cities, it's not like you would want to maintain infrastructure just for the sake of doing so, obviously a cost-benefit analysis, here in Scandinavia or at least in Norway i'd agree, a lot of infrastructure is being built, but it's overinvestment, expensive bridges to serve from 40 to 400 individuals, commuter rail lines operating at 1/3 customer base of profitability, the demographic situation is very different between say Italy and the US, even with consistent substantial migration numbers and increasing birth rates UN estimate Italy's population to fall from 59 million to 35 million by the end of the century, that'd be a lot of infrastructure that can't really be expected to exist, and that'd be the future to prepare for in any regards
From the video it looks like a lot of the “commerce” is shifting coal to power stations. It would be interesting to see a bit more about the other commodities being transported on the network.
America's * Are Falling Apart, you can do a whole series: roads, tunnels, railways, bridges etc
It's because our Filthy politicians are pieces of Shit
Sick surf bro
The Chickamauga Lock on the Chickamauga Dam near Chattanooga TN has been in the process of replacing their lock and is about halfway done. It should be finished in 2026
We are a species of can kickers...
This video makes it seem like these waterways are heavily transporting coal or something like that, is that true?
I hope they can fix them, inland waterways are awesome. I wish my country of Sweden would have even a fraction of what America has.
I preferred your previous thumbnail for this video. I didn't click on it then because I was busy. Almost didn't click on it now because I thought it was another video
this is common problem all around the world now, lack of up keep and a that'll do attitude with too must cost put onto everything rather than what is actually needed. Problem we have now is everything takes so long and costs so much more than used to so many years ago it will only get worse in time.
"$77 million, enough to complete the design." 🤔
The s is silent in Illinois.
Amazing video, I love America’s waterways
I took my Chevy to the levy
Do you use other mic when you speak on-cam and off-cam? your voice sounds so different ..
And at the same time the us federal budget is higher than ever.... (In real terms, adjusted to inflation).
Any fellow pittsburgh yinzers in here?
They're always doing maintenance and replacing and upgrading shit, this is misleading. I just worked a few days on Castle Rock dam energy project on the Wisconsin River replacing the gantry crane used to pick the sluice gates for maintenance. There's always work at the dams, and that dam makes enough power for 3k homes in a county with barely that many people; built in 1951 with original turbines and runs just fine with 1 employee or less.
I'm pretty sure, that if America couldn't use its waterways, all it's domestic cargo would be routed through the rail network. Any exports that couldn't be moved by ship or train would be shipped by truck to its nearest shipyard. Waterways are important but the economy wouldn't collapse
Yeah, that shouldn't be an issue. You'll just need to find about a 1000 trucks to replace a full barge tow. Or about 134 per single barge.
If we take the Army Corps of Engineers' numbers and calculate 134 trucks per barge... We can easily replace the 31 thousand barges serving the US with only 4 million semi-trucks. As we all know, there's absolutely no shortage of truck drivers in the US whatsoever. American road infrastructure is in tip top shape and is just waiting to accept those extra trucks. In fact that would be a barely noticeable more than 2-fols increase from the 3 million trucks already on US roads.
But we can make it even easier if we replace the barges with rail cars! We'll just have to somehow get triple the amount the US already has and lay rail lines along the major waterways. As we all know, the US is unparalleled when it comes to laying rail lines quickly and on a tight budget.
Yep, I agree with you, it won't be any problem whatsoever.
A perfect metaphor for America itself…falling apart…🤷🏻♂️
Yes!
The video doesn't say why they were built. People always think everything is about Money in the United States. People who who never even been on the water or work on a dam but have so much to say about it. I didn't make anymore working on those than would have made if I didn't work on the them
Everything is falling apart. Whole US is falling apart while country is focusing on wars
US two-party system is a master of infrastructure maintenance deferral... way too busy with the "important" stuff.
its time to reverse the mistakes of the past
It's the US. Is there anything that isn't falling apart?
Being able to get stuff out easily from that deep into the country has been the US' real major competitive advantage.
Remember when you praised those pipes Elon musked “sold” you and others as fast transportation…they also fall in this category.
why are they even built out of concrete, i live in the netherlands and here they were made out of brick, some of them have been in operation with just 3 hours a week maintaince for almost 300 years, i would even dare say some locks here are older than the US itself and still in use
Probably because it takes much more time and is more expensive than concrete?
Also brick walls can't take as much lateral forces as reinforced concrete. I guess the significance of this fact depends the size and heigt of the dam and also how violent the river is.
This is so important. We need to build things that last. America just does whatever is fastest to win political points.
In the Netherlands, the rivers and locks are MUCH smaller with less water pressure in comparison to American waterways. Concrete is far stronger.
@@ReviewBoard-uy5nv And LASTS far longer. Bricks are garbage.
Your "understanding" of wear on structures in water is --> pathetic. USA has locks hundreds of years old as well--> made out of concrete. Guess what? They ALL, be it concrete or brick, have major maintenance done on them. YOU just are not aware of that maintenance. PS: Bricks are garbage compared to concrete. No one in their right mind would build with bricks.
Like the victorians before, design these big projects to last for more then 100 years. 💪
Shouldn’t all of the money come from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund? Perhaps if the trust fund had been better operated for all these past decades the need would never have gotten so great.
Richest country in the world. They can't keep their dams in good repair, yet somehow find hundreds of billions every year in new spending for the military. Funny that.
And in 2024,
not a penny for Public, Single-Payer Healthcare Insurance, that much poorer countries have had since the 1960's.
Amazing than China
When I saw Cincinnati I was really hoping the b1m would cover the Brent Spence bridge project😩. It’s a multibillion dollar project with huge implications for both the city as it will open up new land in the downtown area and the country as it regularly moves about 2% of the U.S. GDP on its own. hint hint @TheB1M
Whole US is falling apart.
I thought you were a robot this whole time
Next step:
+ Build a modern version of the Erie Canal
+ Build a canal from the Ohio River to Lake Erie
+ Build a canal from the Ohio River to the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers to link the Midwest with the Mid-Atlantic states
+ Expand inland waterways in Texas and California
+ Expand inland navigation on the Snake River
Why?
Expanding it in California would Require more Water which doesn't exist unless you diverted the Colorado River
A lot of those aren't Necessary if you just upgrade the Railroads
@@IndustrialParrot2816 Inland waterways are better for raw materials and conventional railroads are better for intermediate goods
Some of Americas biggest infrastructure is falling apart....... Posted on 9/11 you got some balls for that title.
looks like they changed the title lol
What in US is not failing, except weapon productions ?
Just a little question wot's constantly niggled this here englishman;
Why's it always the ACE?
Is it written in the statutes?
+1
Who need infrastructure?
Who need healthcare?
Who need a healthy society?
Who need education?
In U.S, Military no 1 baby. 🦅
Some politician with a ton of money from the lobby 😌
Well done Donald. You haven’t exactly made “America Great Again” have you?
Throw in sewer and drinking water infrastructure, and the costs are far greater than the bills passed by Congress to date.
300,000 tons of concrete to move bigger barges of coal. Both release tons of carbon. We’re not serious about climate change are we?
Also grain, steel, wind turbines, and solar panels
damnnn
@B1M you need to do a spoof video of the richest hood in America and how they plan to expand a multi layer trap house
😊
Finally the military does something useful
we need that coal