Can the Newly Passed Infrastructure Bill Solve Our Ttransportation Bottlenecks?

AUSTIN, Texas - Dec. 20, 2021 - PRLog -- If you were to judge the extent of American transportation bottlenecks by the speed of Amazon package deliveries – with millions of items available for delivery to your doorstep in a few days or in some cases just a few hours – you might come away thinking we are in a golden age of delivery logistics.

But to achieve this remarkable "Best of Times" experience, Amazon has made unprecedented investments in its transportation logistics infrastructure. Since ramping up its delivery operations in 2014, Amazon has delivered over 10 billion packages – with 72% of them shipped via Amazon's far-flung network, which now boasts:

400,000 Amazon Drivers
40,000 Amazon Semi Trucks
30,000 Amazon Vans
500+ Amazon Logistics Facilities
70 Amazon Cargo Planes
$1.5 billion dedicated Amazon Air Hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport

Most recently, Amazon has sought to bypass the cargo shipping container backlog by chartering its own cargo ships.

Only a few retail giants (Walmart, Home Depot, Costco come to mind) can compete, but even these companies can't match the full spectrum of Amazon's infrastructure investment ambitions (which now includes shipping non-Amazon orders to compete with FedEx and UPS on its network.)

So where does that leave everyone else?

For Those Relying On America's Deteriorating Infrastructure, It Is The "Worst Of Times."

America's crumbling transportation infrastructure can best be described as an underfunded Dickensian poor house. Most of us have to endure the brunt of transportation delays on a daily basis – from overcrowded, potholed highways and gridlocked city streets that tear up vehicle tires and suspensions at an alarming rate – to the very real possibility that highway overpasses and bridges you commute to work or send your kids to school on will collapse unexpectedly.

The result is a cascading effect that is exacerbating the ongoing supply chain crisis – leading to problems such as the unprecedented delays in US Post Office first class mail delivery – all of which add up to significant pain points for individuals and businesses trying to conduct everyday transactions.

Why Is The American Transportation Network Falling Apart?

Several factors are coming together at once to create a crisis situation in the American transportation network, including:

• Structures Outliving Their Useful Life

Much of American infrastructure has outlived the "useful life" set forth by the original civil engineers and transportation designers who built them.

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