Infrastructure. You don't think about it too much until it fails. It grabs our attention for a few moments and then, after the dust of the latest catastrophe clears from the air, recedes to the background. Or one day when you turn the faucet and the water comes out brown, or not at all, the condition of our infrastructure all of a sudden becomes an urgent issue. By all recent measures that condition is not too good. A recent report from the American Society of Civil Engineers assigned a cumulative grade of D to the state of the nation's infrastructure, looking at 15 different entities such as roads, sanitation and drinking water.

We've witnessed some spectacular failures over the last few years — of levees and highway bridges, to name but a few. Closer to home, we are faced with a sewer system on the brink of collapse, condemned bridges, bursting water mains and traffic patterns approaching gridlock. And this is just municipal infrastructure. Private enterprise is faring no better, as the dramatic photos of a crumbling building from the Nevele Resort demonstrate. Deteriorating, abandoned factories and dilapidated retail spaces add to the list.

But there are glimmers of hope. It appears some sort of Federal stimulus package will soon be passed, and an effort is underway in the Mid-Hudson region to access some of these funds. The Mid-Hudson Valley Consortium for Regional Economic Recovery has prepared a draft report that identifies projects worthy of these funds, and the Shawangunk Ridge region is well represented within it. While it is a large wish list, funding even a few of the specified projects would be a great way to start reversing our infrastructure's long decline.

Spending money on infrastructure is always a tough sell. It is so much more photogenic to strut across an aircraft carrier declaring "victory" in the style of our last president, even if it costs hundreds of billions spent on a questionable war. President Obama will have to settle for something much less glamorous — trading the flight suit and navy ships for a hardhat and a muddy trench.

Priorities are always set by whoever has the most compelling voice. War and patriotism seem to sing to the American public, while failing bridges only sound like a cry of pain. At the start of this inauspicious year, the pain seems to be severe enough to finally grab our attention from the flag's seductive melody. We only hope our current representatives listen to the plea, and resist the urge to divert us with another song.

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