Throwback Thursday: Laughing at our infrastructure

The July 5, 1982 issue of National Home Center News, the precursor of HBSDealer, included a prescient editorial cartoon depicting the state of the nation's infrastructure. 

As a hydro-electric dam crumbles in the distance, a man runs into a D.I.Y. store for a quick fix.

The state of comedy has advanced, but, unfortunately, state of the nation's infrastructure has deteriorated. More than 30 years after the publication of the cartoon, the "Report Card for America's Infrastructure" from the American Society for Civil Engineers gave the United States a grade of "D+." The group also estimated that $3.6 trillion -- trillion with a "t" -- is the amount of investment needed by 2020.