LaHood: ?America is one big pothole? - The Hill's Transportation Report

"At one time ... we were the leader in infrastructure," he said. "We built the interstate system. It's the best road system in the world, and we're proud of it. But we're falling way behind other countries, because we have not made the investments."

...

"The next decisions that will be made by this Congress, by this administration will have to be bold if we're going to continue our efforts to fix up our roads, keep our highways in a state of good repair, to fix up unsafe bridges," he said. "We need a bold plan, and a bold way to fund it."
So while the rest of the world is building HSR our outgoing Secretary of Transportation laments that we didn't spend more money, that we don't even have anyhow, fixing our roads. Nice.