There is some serious pocket-lining going on. About a decade ago, one of those investigative shows on PBS - like Frontline - did an investigation on road building tech in the USA and abroad. They found that in the USA there was a huge installed base of old tech machinery and a small number of companies. In Europe, they used new, leading edge tech where the roads were often spec'd to last 15-20 years. But, because of the small number of companies and their financial contributions to local politicians, there was no pressure on American companies to invest in state of the art road tech. So instead, the same old fully-paid-for-a-dozen-times-ofver stuff from 50 years ago keeps getting used, the company owners get rich, your local politicos get their share of the spoils in soft money and other ethically questionable forms and we all pay for it in excess taxes and wheel/suspension damage.