What do you call a highway program that just keeps going long after its original goals were achieved? A zombie highway. Blueprint America -- with The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer -- goes to Birmingham, Alabama, to look into the Northern Beltline, a road that will cost more than $3 billion, most of which will be paid for by taxpayers nationwide.

America, for some time now, has forgone its great infrastructure projects. It was the railway that first spread the country out –- developing land, building cities at each stop. The railway soon gave way to the highway –- developing even more land, building even more cities at each exit. But, the highway has yet to give way. BLUEPRINT AMERICA looks at the country’s next infrastructure system and, at the same time, the state of the current system: From transportation –- car, bus, light rail, train and plane –- to the water supply to the energy grid to city development and planning. In recent years, America’s infrastructure neglect has been seen across the country –- levees failed in New Orleans and a bridge fell in Minneapolis. But, neglect is no longer the only reason to rebuild. As the country is in an economic recession, there is a call now to rebuild the American economy by rebuilding the American infrastructure. It is a new New Deal to the country. BLUEPRINT AMERICA reports on how rebuilding America’s infrastructure can both impact the economy and change the current landscape of the country.

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.

America’s ports are its economic lifeline to the rest of the world, and are in danger of becoming a hindrance to our nation’s success. In the second segment of a five part series on infrastructure in the U.S., NewsHour Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez reports with Blueprint America from one of the nation's busiest ports: New Orleans.

There are critical infrastructure decisions that need to be made in the American Southwest if it both wants to continue to expand and be able to support its current population. In the third segment of a five part series on infrastructure in the U.S., NewsHour Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez reports with Blueprint America on how the suburbs of Arizona grow with no boundaries.

A look at how America’s air transportation system – once a source of national pride – has become a frustrating example of the country’s struggling infrastructure. In the fourth segment of a five part series on infrastructure in the U.S., NewsHour Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez reports with Blueprint America on the crowded skies above.

In the last segment of a five part series on infrastructure in the U.S., NewsHour Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez reports with Blueprint America on the critical lessons learned from Boston's Big Dig.

Commentary from the NewsHour's Ray Suarez about port problems in New Orleans.