The Repairing of America

Deteriorating roads, bridges, dams and sewers finally get some attention

When Ronald Reagan returns to Washington this week from his holiday vacation in the West, one of his first acts will be to pick up a pen and sign a bulky document. On the same day, a telecopier machine at the Department of Transportation 16 blocks away will simultaneously dispatch a 6½-page message to the 50 states, telling each how much federal money it can spend from the new 5¢-per-gal. increase in the gasoline tax. With that, the rebuilding of America will symbolically begin....

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