{"id":701,"date":"2010-04-28T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-28T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/resources\/road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and\/"},"modified":"2022-08-06T07:48:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T11:48:00","slug":"road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-for-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and-bridges","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/resources\/road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-for-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and-bridges\/","title":{"rendered":"Road Work Ahead Holding Government Accountable for Fixing America&#8217;s Crumbling Roads and Bridges"},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"resource_type":[64],"region_tax":[],"state":[13],"topic_tax":[],"class_list":["post-701","resource","type-resource","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":false,"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":64,"event_type":false,"campaigns":false,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[13],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":null}},"subtitle":"Holding Government Accountable for Fixing America's Crumbling Roads and Bridges","excerpt":"Over the last 50 years, America has built roads and bridges at a pace and scale that dwarfs most of the rest of the world. We\u2019ve built a national highway network like no other, with more than 45,000 miles of interstate highway and 575,000 highway bridges.\u00a0\nNow, much of that system is showing its age \u2013 and as maintenance needs continue to grow, we are falling farther behind. Across the nation, drivers face more than 90,000 miles of crumbling highways and more than 70,000 structurally deficient bridges. Neglected maintenance of roads and bridges acts as a constant drain on our economy and a scourge on our quality of life. Rough and rutted roads cause accidents, damage vehicles, trigger traffic jams that lead to countless hours of delay, and waste money Americans need for other expenses. On some occasions \u2013 such as the 2007 collapse of the I-35 bridge connecting Minneapolis \u2013 it can lead to profound tragedy.\nWhy are America\u2019s roads and bridges in such terrible shape? And who or what is to blame?\u00a0\nThe deterioration of our roads and bridges is no accident. Rather, it is the direct result of countless policy decisions that put other considerations ahead of the pressing need to preserve our investment in the highway system. Political forces often undermine a strong commitment to maintenance: Members of Congress, state legislators and local politicians thrive on ribbon-cuttings. Powerful special interests push for new and bigger highways. Meanwhile, federal and state policies \u2013 which should provide strong guidance in the wise use of taxpayer dollars \u2013 often fail to achieve the proper balance between building new infrastructure and taking care of what we already have built.\nTo fix our roads and bridges, America first must fix our transportation policies. To counteract the tendencies to neglect repair and maintenance, we must adopt strong \u201cfix-it first\u201d rules that give priority to maintenance of our existing roads and bridges, set national goals for the condition of our transportation system, and hold state governments accountable for achieving results.\nThis report describes how America\u2019s roads and bridges are in disrepair, bringing together a wide variety of statistics and sources with state-by-state analysis. It shows how special interest pressure tilts the playing field toward the construction of new and ever-wider highways at the expense of repair and maintenance. U.S. transportation policy fails to properly emphasize highway and bridge maintenance, with federal transportation policies allocating vast amounts of money to the states with little direction and no accountability, and with Congressional earmarks further tilting spending away from maintenance. State transportation funding policies are often similarly short-sighted, focusing on the creation of politically popular new highways rather than maintaining existing roads and bridges.\nSpending more money on transportation won\u2019t fix America\u2019s roads and bridges without a top-to-bottom shift in funding priorities and policies. The report\u2019s recommendations include ways to:\n\u00b7 Make highway and bridge maintenance a national priority.\n\u00b7 Reorganize federal highway programs to focus exclusively on either maintenance or new construction.\n\u00b7 Require states receiving federal aid to plan for future maintenance before building new roads.\n\u00b7 Measure performance the right way.\n\u00b7 Reward states for good performance on national objectives.\n\u00b7 Create fix-it-first policies in the states as well","featured_image":"","caption_override":"","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":null,"related_event":null,"hide_hero_image":false,"location":"","external_link":{"publication_name":"","url":""},"file":null,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":null},"helper_downloads":{"title":"Downloads","files":[{"file":100000000020576,"title":"Road-Work-Ahead-vGA"}]},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"","":null}}],"site_specific_content":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Road Work Ahead Holding Government Accountable for Fixing America&#039;s Crumbling Roads and Bridges<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Over the last 50 years, America has built roads and bridges at a pace and scale that dwarfs most of the rest of the world. We\u2019ve built a national highway network like no other, with more than 45,000 miles of interstate highway and 575,000 highway bridges.\u00a0 Now, much of that system is showing its age \u2013 and as maintenance needs continue to grow, we are falling farther behind. Across the nation, drivers face more than 90,000 miles of crumbling highways and more than 70,000 structurally deficient bridges. Neglected maintenance of roads and bridges acts as a constant drain on our economy and a scourge on our quality of life. Rough and rutted roads cause accidents, damage vehicles, trigger traffic jams that lead to countless hours of delay, and waste money Americans need for other expenses. On some occasions \u2013 such as the 2007 collapse of the I-35 bridge connecting Minneapolis \u2013 it can lead to profound tragedy. Why are America\u2019s roads and bridges in such terrible shape? And who or what is to blame?\u00a0 The deterioration of our roads and bridges is no accident. Rather, it is the direct result of countless policy decisions that put other considerations ahead of the pressing need to preserve our investment in the highway system. Political forces often undermine a strong commitment to maintenance: Members of Congress, state legislators and local politicians thrive on ribbon-cuttings. Powerful special interests push for new and bigger highways. Meanwhile, federal and state policies \u2013 which should provide strong guidance in the wise use of taxpayer dollars \u2013 often fail to achieve the proper balance between building new infrastructure and taking care of what we already have built. To fix our roads and bridges, America first must fix our transportation policies. To counteract the tendencies to neglect repair and maintenance, we must adopt strong \u201cfix-it first\u201d rules that give priority to maintenance of our existing roads and bridges, set national goals for the condition of our transportation system, and hold state governments accountable for achieving results. This report describes how America\u2019s roads and bridges are in disrepair, bringing together a wide variety of statistics and sources with state-by-state analysis. It shows how special interest pressure tilts the playing field toward the construction of new and ever-wider highways at the expense of repair and maintenance. U.S. transportation policy fails to properly emphasize highway and bridge maintenance, with federal transportation policies allocating vast amounts of money to the states with little direction and no accountability, and with Congressional earmarks further tilting spending away from maintenance. State transportation funding policies are often similarly short-sighted, focusing on the creation of politically popular new highways rather than maintaining existing roads and bridges. Spending more money on transportation won\u2019t fix America\u2019s roads and bridges without a top-to-bottom shift in funding priorities and policies. The report\u2019s recommendations include ways to: \u00b7 Make highway and bridge maintenance a national priority. \u00b7 Reorganize federal highway programs to focus exclusively on either maintenance or new construction. \u00b7 Require states receiving federal aid to plan for future maintenance before building new roads. \u00b7 Measure performance the right way. \u00b7 Reward states for good performance on national objectives. \u00b7 Create fix-it-first policies in the states as well\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/resources\/road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-for-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and-bridges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Road Work Ahead Holding Government Accountable for Fixing America&#039;s Crumbling Roads and Bridges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the last 50 years, America has built roads and bridges at a pace and scale that dwarfs most of the rest of the world. We\u2019ve built a national highway network like no other, with more than 45,000 miles of interstate highway and 575,000 highway bridges.\u00a0 Now, much of that system is showing its age \u2013 and as maintenance needs continue to grow, we are falling farther behind. Across the nation, drivers face more than 90,000 miles of crumbling highways and more than 70,000 structurally deficient bridges. Neglected maintenance of roads and bridges acts as a constant drain on our economy and a scourge on our quality of life. Rough and rutted roads cause accidents, damage vehicles, trigger traffic jams that lead to countless hours of delay, and waste money Americans need for other expenses. On some occasions \u2013 such as the 2007 collapse of the I-35 bridge connecting Minneapolis \u2013 it can lead to profound tragedy. Why are America\u2019s roads and bridges in such terrible shape? And who or what is to blame?\u00a0 The deterioration of our roads and bridges is no accident. Rather, it is the direct result of countless policy decisions that put other considerations ahead of the pressing need to preserve our investment in the highway system. Political forces often undermine a strong commitment to maintenance: Members of Congress, state legislators and local politicians thrive on ribbon-cuttings. Powerful special interests push for new and bigger highways. Meanwhile, federal and state policies \u2013 which should provide strong guidance in the wise use of taxpayer dollars \u2013 often fail to achieve the proper balance between building new infrastructure and taking care of what we already have built. To fix our roads and bridges, America first must fix our transportation policies. To counteract the tendencies to neglect repair and maintenance, we must adopt strong \u201cfix-it first\u201d rules that give priority to maintenance of our existing roads and bridges, set national goals for the condition of our transportation system, and hold state governments accountable for achieving results. This report describes how America\u2019s roads and bridges are in disrepair, bringing together a wide variety of statistics and sources with state-by-state analysis. It shows how special interest pressure tilts the playing field toward the construction of new and ever-wider highways at the expense of repair and maintenance. U.S. transportation policy fails to properly emphasize highway and bridge maintenance, with federal transportation policies allocating vast amounts of money to the states with little direction and no accountability, and with Congressional earmarks further tilting spending away from maintenance. State transportation funding policies are often similarly short-sighted, focusing on the creation of politically popular new highways rather than maintaining existing roads and bridges. Spending more money on transportation won\u2019t fix America\u2019s roads and bridges without a top-to-bottom shift in funding priorities and policies. The report\u2019s recommendations include ways to: \u00b7 Make highway and bridge maintenance a national priority. \u00b7 Reorganize federal highway programs to focus exclusively on either maintenance or new construction. \u00b7 Require states receiving federal aid to plan for future maintenance before building new roads. \u00b7 Measure performance the right way. \u00b7 Reward states for good performance on national objectives. \u00b7 Create fix-it-first policies in the states as well\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/resources\/road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-for-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and-bridges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Georgia PIRG Education Fund\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-06T11:48:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/edfund\\\/resources\\\/road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-for-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and-bridges\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/edfund\\\/resources\\\/road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-for-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and-bridges\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Road Work Ahead Holding Government Accountable for Fixing America's Crumbling Roads and Bridges\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/edfund\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2010-04-28T08:00:00+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2022-08-06T11:48:00+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Over the last 50 years, America has built roads and bridges at a pace and scale that dwarfs most of the rest of the world. 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Rather, it is the direct result of countless policy decisions that put other considerations ahead of the pressing need to preserve our investment in the highway system. Political forces often undermine a strong commitment to maintenance: Members of Congress, state legislators and local politicians thrive on ribbon-cuttings. Powerful special interests push for new and bigger highways. Meanwhile, federal and state policies \u2013 which should provide strong guidance in the wise use of taxpayer dollars \u2013 often fail to achieve the proper balance between building new infrastructure and taking care of what we already have built. To fix our roads and bridges, America first must fix our transportation policies. To counteract the tendencies to neglect repair and maintenance, we must adopt strong \u201cfix-it first\u201d rules that give priority to maintenance of our existing roads and bridges, set national goals for the condition of our transportation system, and hold state governments accountable for achieving results. This report describes how America\u2019s roads and bridges are in disrepair, bringing together a wide variety of statistics and sources with state-by-state analysis. It shows how special interest pressure tilts the playing field toward the construction of new and ever-wider highways at the expense of repair and maintenance. U.S. transportation policy fails to properly emphasize highway and bridge maintenance, with federal transportation policies allocating vast amounts of money to the states with little direction and no accountability, and with Congressional earmarks further tilting spending away from maintenance. 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We\u2019ve built a national highway network like no other, with more than 45,000 miles of interstate highway and 575,000 highway bridges.\u00a0 Now, much of that system is showing its age \u2013 and as maintenance needs continue to grow, we are falling farther behind. Across the nation, drivers face more than 90,000 miles of crumbling highways and more than 70,000 structurally deficient bridges. Neglected maintenance of roads and bridges acts as a constant drain on our economy and a scourge on our quality of life. Rough and rutted roads cause accidents, damage vehicles, trigger traffic jams that lead to countless hours of delay, and waste money Americans need for other expenses. On some occasions \u2013 such as the 2007 collapse of the I-35 bridge connecting Minneapolis \u2013 it can lead to profound tragedy. Why are America\u2019s roads and bridges in such terrible shape? And who or what is to blame?\u00a0 The deterioration of our roads and bridges is no accident. Rather, it is the direct result of countless policy decisions that put other considerations ahead of the pressing need to preserve our investment in the highway system. Political forces often undermine a strong commitment to maintenance: Members of Congress, state legislators and local politicians thrive on ribbon-cuttings. Powerful special interests push for new and bigger highways. Meanwhile, federal and state policies \u2013 which should provide strong guidance in the wise use of taxpayer dollars \u2013 often fail to achieve the proper balance between building new infrastructure and taking care of what we already have built. To fix our roads and bridges, America first must fix our transportation policies. To counteract the tendencies to neglect repair and maintenance, we must adopt strong \u201cfix-it first\u201d rules that give priority to maintenance of our existing roads and bridges, set national goals for the condition of our transportation system, and hold state governments accountable for achieving results. This report describes how America\u2019s roads and bridges are in disrepair, bringing together a wide variety of statistics and sources with state-by-state analysis. It shows how special interest pressure tilts the playing field toward the construction of new and ever-wider highways at the expense of repair and maintenance. U.S. transportation policy fails to properly emphasize highway and bridge maintenance, with federal transportation policies allocating vast amounts of money to the states with little direction and no accountability, and with Congressional earmarks further tilting spending away from maintenance. State transportation funding policies are often similarly short-sighted, focusing on the creation of politically popular new highways rather than maintaining existing roads and bridges. Spending more money on transportation won\u2019t fix America\u2019s roads and bridges without a top-to-bottom shift in funding priorities and policies. 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We\u2019ve built a national highway network like no other, with more than 45,000 miles of interstate highway and 575,000 highway bridges.\u00a0 Now, much of that system is showing its age \u2013 and as maintenance needs continue to grow, we are falling farther behind. Across the nation, drivers face more than 90,000 miles of crumbling highways and more than 70,000 structurally deficient bridges. Neglected maintenance of roads and bridges acts as a constant drain on our economy and a scourge on our quality of life. Rough and rutted roads cause accidents, damage vehicles, trigger traffic jams that lead to countless hours of delay, and waste money Americans need for other expenses. On some occasions \u2013 such as the 2007 collapse of the I-35 bridge connecting Minneapolis \u2013 it can lead to profound tragedy. Why are America\u2019s roads and bridges in such terrible shape? And who or what is to blame?\u00a0 The deterioration of our roads and bridges is no accident. Rather, it is the direct result of countless policy decisions that put other considerations ahead of the pressing need to preserve our investment in the highway system. Political forces often undermine a strong commitment to maintenance: Members of Congress, state legislators and local politicians thrive on ribbon-cuttings. Powerful special interests push for new and bigger highways. Meanwhile, federal and state policies \u2013 which should provide strong guidance in the wise use of taxpayer dollars \u2013 often fail to achieve the proper balance between building new infrastructure and taking care of what we already have built. To fix our roads and bridges, America first must fix our transportation policies. To counteract the tendencies to neglect repair and maintenance, we must adopt strong \u201cfix-it first\u201d rules that give priority to maintenance of our existing roads and bridges, set national goals for the condition of our transportation system, and hold state governments accountable for achieving results. This report describes how America\u2019s roads and bridges are in disrepair, bringing together a wide variety of statistics and sources with state-by-state analysis. It shows how special interest pressure tilts the playing field toward the construction of new and ever-wider highways at the expense of repair and maintenance. U.S. transportation policy fails to properly emphasize highway and bridge maintenance, with federal transportation policies allocating vast amounts of money to the states with little direction and no accountability, and with Congressional earmarks further tilting spending away from maintenance. State transportation funding policies are often similarly short-sighted, focusing on the creation of politically popular new highways rather than maintaining existing roads and bridges. Spending more money on transportation won\u2019t fix America\u2019s roads and bridges without a top-to-bottom shift in funding priorities and policies. The report\u2019s recommendations include ways to: \u00b7 Make highway and bridge maintenance a national priority. \u00b7 Reorganize federal highway programs to focus exclusively on either maintenance or new construction. \u00b7 Require states receiving federal aid to plan for future maintenance before building new roads. \u00b7 Measure performance the right way. \u00b7 Reward states for good performance on national objectives. \u00b7 Create fix-it-first policies in the states as well","og_url":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/resources\/road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-for-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and-bridges\/","og_site_name":"Georgia PIRG Education Fund","article_modified_time":"2022-08-06T11:48:00+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/resources\/road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-for-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and-bridges\/","url":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/resources\/road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-for-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and-bridges\/","name":"Road Work Ahead Holding Government Accountable for Fixing America's Crumbling Roads and Bridges","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-04-28T08:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-06T11:48:00+00:00","description":"Over the last 50 years, America has built roads and bridges at a pace and scale that dwarfs most of the rest of the world. We\u2019ve built a national highway network like no other, with more than 45,000 miles of interstate highway and 575,000 highway bridges.\u00a0 Now, much of that system is showing its age \u2013 and as maintenance needs continue to grow, we are falling farther behind. Across the nation, drivers face more than 90,000 miles of crumbling highways and more than 70,000 structurally deficient bridges. Neglected maintenance of roads and bridges acts as a constant drain on our economy and a scourge on our quality of life. Rough and rutted roads cause accidents, damage vehicles, trigger traffic jams that lead to countless hours of delay, and waste money Americans need for other expenses. On some occasions \u2013 such as the 2007 collapse of the I-35 bridge connecting Minneapolis \u2013 it can lead to profound tragedy. Why are America\u2019s roads and bridges in such terrible shape? And who or what is to blame?\u00a0 The deterioration of our roads and bridges is no accident. Rather, it is the direct result of countless policy decisions that put other considerations ahead of the pressing need to preserve our investment in the highway system. Political forces often undermine a strong commitment to maintenance: Members of Congress, state legislators and local politicians thrive on ribbon-cuttings. Powerful special interests push for new and bigger highways. Meanwhile, federal and state policies \u2013 which should provide strong guidance in the wise use of taxpayer dollars \u2013 often fail to achieve the proper balance between building new infrastructure and taking care of what we already have built. To fix our roads and bridges, America first must fix our transportation policies. To counteract the tendencies to neglect repair and maintenance, we must adopt strong \u201cfix-it first\u201d rules that give priority to maintenance of our existing roads and bridges, set national goals for the condition of our transportation system, and hold state governments accountable for achieving results. This report describes how America\u2019s roads and bridges are in disrepair, bringing together a wide variety of statistics and sources with state-by-state analysis. It shows how special interest pressure tilts the playing field toward the construction of new and ever-wider highways at the expense of repair and maintenance. U.S. transportation policy fails to properly emphasize highway and bridge maintenance, with federal transportation policies allocating vast amounts of money to the states with little direction and no accountability, and with Congressional earmarks further tilting spending away from maintenance. State transportation funding policies are often similarly short-sighted, focusing on the creation of politically popular new highways rather than maintaining existing roads and bridges. Spending more money on transportation won\u2019t fix America\u2019s roads and bridges without a top-to-bottom shift in funding priorities and policies. The report\u2019s recommendations include ways to: \u00b7 Make highway and bridge maintenance a national priority. \u00b7 Reorganize federal highway programs to focus exclusively on either maintenance or new construction. \u00b7 Require states receiving federal aid to plan for future maintenance before building new roads. \u00b7 Measure performance the right way. \u00b7 Reward states for good performance on national objectives. \u00b7 Create fix-it-first policies in the states as well","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/resources\/road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-for-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and-bridges\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/resources\/road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-for-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and-bridges\/"]}],"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dev.tpin-test.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/WEB_PIRG_Default-Image.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/resources\/road-work-ahead-holding-government-accountable-for-fixing-americas-crumbling-roads-and-bridges\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Road Work Ahead Holding Government Accountable for Fixing America&#8217;s Crumbling Roads and Bridges"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/","name":"Georgia PIRG Education Fund","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Georgia PIRG Education Fund","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resource"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/701\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"campaign_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campaign_tax?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"display_option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_option?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"issue_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_tax?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"resource_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource_type?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"region_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region_tax?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/state?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"topic_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic_tax?post=701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}