“Each of these 90-day wonders might fix one thing really well. But what if, in the process, you mess up the two that are connected to it?” Bea says. At a time when engineers are calling for careful study of the relationship among different infrastructure systems, and long-term planning and construction to prevent areas like California’s Sacramento delta from suffering catastrophic levee failures, shovel-ready thinking might be worse than a distraction.
Because whatever a 90-day project does or doesn’t do, it’s not going to solve complex, and sometimes life-threatening, problems. The term "shovel-ready"—as in, infrastructure projects that are ready or almost ready to begin—has become a favorite of policy makers in recent weeks. As the Senate gets ready to vote on a stimulus bill, it looks like the idea has stuck: The latest bill gives only projects that are able to start construction within 90 days eligibility for funding from the $90 billion set aside for infrastructure. Here is why the shovel-ready mandate could make the infrastructure crisis worse by popularmechanics 