It is common to hear children singing “Over the River and Through the Wood” this week. The lyrics of the song are based on a Thanksgiving poem by Lydia Maria Child originally published in 1844 titled “The New-England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day.” The poet was reminiscing about visiting her grandfather’s house as a child and traveling by horse-drawn sleigh. The song has me thinking of both Thanksgiving and the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Take a few minutes to think about how connected Thanksgiving and infrastructure really are. If you are traveling for the holiday, then you rely on the safety of roads, highways, bridges, rails and airports. If you plan on drinking water or rinsing vegetables at grandma’s, you hope the drinking water infrastructure is delivering clean and healthy water, free of lead. You trust that the energy grid will deliver gas or electricity to heat your oven to cook the turkey or bake a pumpkin pie. It seems like everyone is now aware of how important our ports are to the supply chain. And if you can’t make it home for the holiday, then you hope you have broadband to have a Zoom call with family or friends.
Thanksgiving is the perfect time to evaluate the nation’s infrastructure. It also coincides with President Joe Biden’s signature of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill will upgrade the nation’s roads, bridges, water systems and broadband. Both former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump promised to deliver an infrastructure plan but were unsuccessful.
