NASA's OSIRIS-REX spacecraft, launched in 2016 and on a continuing journey that has now covered 3.86 billion miles at a speed of 27,650 miles per hour, swept to within a distance of 63,000 miles of earth and released a container holding 8.8 ounces of asteroid material that landed on the Utah Test and Training Range early Sunday. The price tag for this incredible exercise was estimated by the Planetary Society as being in the neighborhood of $1.16 billion.
The wonder of this miraculous feat is eclipsed by the conditions of the nation's highways. Why is it that a relatively simple item like a stretch of concrete or asphalt is only capable of surviving two or three years before developing cracks, potholes and other destructive features? Is it actually impossible for scientists with valid but different credentials than their NASA counterparts to find a remedy for the rapid deterioration of the US highway system?
Construction of a 4-lane rural highway costs from $4 to $6 million per mile. Resurfacing and paving the same stretch could cost $1.25 million for the same distance according to knowledgeable sources. Urban roads are much more expensive. There are about 4.09 million total miles of usually bad highways in the US.
It's not to denigrate the efforts of NASA or the defense of Ukraine but couldn't some money be found to research and develop highways capable of withstanding more than a few seasons of bad weather and truck traffic?
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