Ray Suarez (The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer) and David Brancaccio of (NOW on PBS) talk about reporting on America's infrastructure problems with Blueprint America.

Blueprint America -- with The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer -- in a two part report looks at the bottlenecks of America's freight rail network, and the communities the trains intersect.

As the economy slumps, Americans have increasingly turned to mass transit, putting new pressure on the agencies that run our buses, trains and subways. In the first segment of a two part report for Blueprint America, correspondent Rick Karr looks at how to operate a transit system with no money. Already, 60 transit agencies nationwide have proposed fare increases, service cuts, or both.

With transit agencies running in the red, some have found themselves linked to complex financial deals -- in the hopes of creating new revenue sources -- that have since soured as a result of the Recession, potentially leaving cash strapped systems owing millions more in debt. In the final segment of a two part report for Blueprint America, correspondent Rick Karr looks at the fallout of these arrangements as, in many cases, it's not just money but the safety of riders at risk. (Part 2 of 2)

Driverless cars, intelligent traffic signals, road signs that speak to cars and cars that speak to drivers... These are not the dreams of mad scientists working in a remote region of the country. These are not part of an upcoming episode of a new series on the Sci-Fi channel either. But, these technologies might help save 21,000 of the 43,000 deaths annually recorded on America’s highways.

Two of the Big Three on transportation and infrastructure reform in America, Gov. Ed Rendell, Democrat of Pennsylvania, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican of California (they make up the group, Building America's Future, along with Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Independent of New York City), in a conversation on that very same subject -- calling for a reprioritization of infrastructure development and planning throughout the country. Not only will it modernize infrastructure, they say, bringing it into the 21st century, but it will also quicken economic recovery. By that standard, America is already a decade behind.

In a Blueprint America special, David Brancaccio (NOW on PBS) interviews Nobel Laureate and The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman about President-elect Barack Obama's proposed stimulus package - how government spending on infrastructure projects will impact America's economy in these hard times.

In Pennsylvania, there are nearly 6,000 bridges in disrepair – the most in the nation. According to the Federal Highway Administration, 39 percent of bridges in the state are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. In the first segment of a five part series on infrastructure in the U.S., NewsHour Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez reports with Blueprint America on Pennsylvania's aging bridges.

Welcome to Blueprint America. We invite you to join us on what we hope will be an exciting journey over the next year.