How Harvey exposes America's dangerously dilapidated infrastructure

Invest in infrastructure before climate disaster strikes again

Houston's devastating flood.
(Image credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Hurricane Harvey is wreaking devastation on Houston and other parts of southern Texas. Rebuilding will cost many tens or perhaps even hundreds of billions of dollars. But what then?

Climate disasters like Harvey illustrate an undeniable fact: American infrastructure is living on borrowed time. We not only need large new investments to bring things up to par, we need a surge of national investment to address the dangers of living in a riskier climate.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.