The city that never sleeps just might crack if infrastructure repairs are not made soon

March 23, 1999
Web posted at: 2:26 p.m. EST (1926 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Scratch New York's shiny, skyscraper surface and underneath there's a city showing its age. And along with the decay of infrastructure, some of it more than 100 years old, comes a potential threat to public safety.

Examples abound of what critics call inadequate maintenance: Parts of the Brooklyn Bridge are buckling, water mains are rupturing, schools are crumbling and firehouse floors are threatening to collapse.

But with basic repairs alone estimated to cost three times the city's annual budget, New York leaders face a balancing act -- spend limited funds to rebuild or start from scratch?

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