As my regular readers will recall, I spent four years on the staff of Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a man whom I personally respect a great deal and whose service to state and country is admirable. My day-to-day work for Bennet was primarily handling his military and veteran casework. The rest of my time was spent on a variety of important if less-than-glamorous assignments around improving the lives of people in Colorado.

This often came down to infrastructure, a word far too few Americans are interested in, as it is perhaps one of the most boring yet vital areas of governmental action. Infrastructure, to put it plainly, is the, well, structure that undergirds our society. We need roads and bridges to be in good shape and we need electrical grids and water treatment plants to all function at high levels. Yet few Americans think about infrastructure regularly, and all too often, when elements of our infrastructure are at risk, we slap a band aid on the problem when a major redo is needed.

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I was reminded of the importance of such work when I recently read a Colorado Politics Out West story about a landslide in our neighbor to the north, Wyoming. I spent my first five years of Air Force active duty in Wyoming, at FE Warren Air Force Base just outside of Cheyenne, and I will always have a warm spot in my heart for the Cowboy State. The aforementioned landslide was a significant one, completely taking out a road vital to daily commuters between the Jackson, Wyoming area and eastern Idaho.

Now, you may well ask why a seemingly remote road near Yellowstone is so vital. Well, Jackson is a very nice city, with lots of fancy shops and lots and lots of rich people. The average home in Jackson for a single family recently topped $7 million. Several years ago, I performed my Alexander Hamilton show (hamiltonlives.com) at such a home in Jackson and let me just say wow, there are some rich folks out there.

Suffice it to say most of the people working in those fancy stores and bakeries and banks and such in Jackson cannot afford to live in that community, and so must drive a half-hour or so each way to reach more affordable housing. And guess which road is the only direct route to that housing? You guessed it, the road that collapsed.

I have a friend up there who, for example, reports her “commute” to work in Jackson just increased roughly two hours each way with the loss of the direct route. This is a remarkable and ridiculous increase in time and costs, but until the road is fixed, my friend is stuck.

Infrastructure matters, folks. If you don’t believe me, just ask the folks who relied on a certain bridge in Baltimore how vital infrastructure is, after the bridge was brought down by a collision with a cargo ship.

Jackson, Wyoming and other wealthy communities are going to find the going tough if the workers that make those municipalities run can’t get to work with reasonable ease. Some wealthy cities, like Aspen, have a long history of creating some affordable housing in their communities. Many such communities have housing programs, including Jackson, but equally clearly there are not enough affordable housing opportunities if a single two-lane road through a mountain pass is so critical.

Perhaps it is time to nationally consider affordable housing as a key part of any infrastructure plan. I’m sure some folks are already thinking along those lines, but more needs to be done. Here in Colorado, there is a spectacular and dangerous drive called Phantom Canyon Road. I’ve driven it twice, and won’t do it again, as the drive is as stressful as it is gorgeous. That said, some workers in the casinos and shops of Cripple Creek use that road as a primary commuter road, to find more affordable housing in the Penrose area. Such a daily commute would unnerve me, but for some people, it is the difference between working and poverty.

We can be proud of our U.S. senators in that both Bennet and Hickenlooper have been strong supporters of infrastructure investments and supported President Joe Biden’s major infrastructure bill a couple years back. That money is now arriving in communities and hopefully will be invested in those boring repairs and maintenance to keep our society going.

Oh, and it is interesting quite a few Republican senators, who voted against the bill, are now announcing the monies coming to their states (and taking credit) under the very bill they opposed. Tommy Tuberville, the former outstanding football coach and terrible current senator, tweeted out his pleasure at the $1.4 billion awarded to Alabama for high-speed internet without mentioning he voted against that very same award. I’m no longer shocked by such stunning GOP hypocrisy, but I remain annoyed by it.

Infrastructure is boring for most people. Heck, a column like this one about infrastructure is likely boring (Editor: well…). But boring doesn’t mean unimportant. We need to devote much more national attention to infrastructure issues. Until we do, the news will continue to be filled with stories about collapsed bridges and washed-out roads.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.