You know ...

When the Roman Empire fell (which didn't happen overnight), the first thing to go was the infrastructure farthest away from the power center (Rome ... generally). Out in the lands where the Barbarians lived - England, France, Germany - the great Roman road system turned back to nature and the aqueducts began crumbling due to lack of maintenance. From this article, I figger the "heartland" will go back to horses and buggies any time now:

SPIRITWOOD, N.D.—A hulking yellow machine inched along Old Highway 10 here recently in a summer scene that seemed as normal as the nearby corn swaying in the breeze. But instead of laying a blanket of steaming blacktop, the machine was grinding the asphalt road into bits.

"When [counties] had lots of money, they paved a lot of the roads and tried to make life easier for the people who lived out here," said Stutsman County Highway Superintendant Mike Zimmerman, sifting the dusty black rubble through his fingers. "Now, it's catching up to them."

Outside this speck of a town, pop. 78, a 10-mile stretch of road had deteriorated to the point that residents reported seeing ducks floating in potholes, Mr. Zimmerman said. As the road wore out, the cost of repaving became too great. Last year, the county spent $400,000 on an RM300 Caterpillar rotary mixer to grind the road up, making it look more like the old homesteader trail it once was.

...

But heaven forbid we go and raise taxes on anybody. I can't wait until someone will get the idea that they don't need indoor plumbing anymore. If this weren't so sad it would be laughable.

By the way, I wonder which county official has a brother-in-law who's in the heavy equipment sales business?

Thanks to Gaius Publius for the link.