Directions [126-135] : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below.
Certain words/phrases have been given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
Inland waterways, as quiet as a mouse, keep the nation's economy flowing as they transport $180 billion of coal, steel, chemicals and other goods each year across 38 states. Yet, an antiquated system of locks and dams threatens the timely delivery of those goods daily.
Locks and dams raise or lower ships from one water level to the next, but breakdown of these carriers are frequent. The outage, which began last July, and is expected to end this August, will cost the power generation company and its customers $5.5 million as the utility ferries coal and other supplies along the river for itself and other businesses.
As the economy picks up, the nation's creaking infrastructure will increasingly struggle to handle the load. That will make products more expensive as businesses pay more for shipping or maneuver around roadblocks and it will cause the nation to lose exports to other countries-both of which are expected to hamper the recovery. “The good news is, that the economy is turning,“ says Dan Murray, Vice President of the Transportation Research Institute. “The bad news is, we expect congestion to skyrocket." he added.
The ancient lock-and-dam system is perhaps the most egregious example of aging or congested transportation systems that are being outstripped by demand. Fourteen locks, out of the total twenty-eight are expected to fall by 2020, costing the economy billions of dollars. Meanwhile. seaports cannot accommodate larger container ships, slowing exports and imports highways are too narrow. Bridges are overtaxed.
The shortcomings were partly masked during the recession as fewer people worked and less freight was shipped, easing traffic on transportation corridors. But interviews with shippers and logistics companies showed that delays started lengthening along with the moderately growing economy. Yet there is little prospect for more infrastructure investment as a divided Government battles about how to cut the $1.3 trillion deficit and Slate and Local Governments face their own budget shortfalls. Government investment in highways, bridges, water systems, schools and other projects has fallen each year since 2008. lHS Global insight expects such outlays to drop by 4.4% this year and 3% in the next year. According to experts, the country is spending about half of the $2.2 trillion that it should over a five-year period to repair and expand overburdened infrastructure.
