It is no secret that many of America's roads and railways are badly in need of repairs.

But there's disagreement on how to pay for the work that needs to be done.

In Chicago, where half the rail freight in the United States rolls through. the tracks are so tangled that
rail officials have given it the name of "spaghetti bowl"

It takes a freight train two days to travel the 3,000 km to reach Chicago from Los Angeles.

It can take another day or two just to get through Chicago,because passenger and freight trains share lines.

America’s antiquated infrastructure can have dramatic consequences. But in an era of budget cuts,
the latest transportation bill is gridlocked on Capitol Hill.

Chicago is moving forward anyway – it’s managed to find 3.2bn dollars in federal, state,
local and private money to untangle the city’s rail system and speed up traffic nationwide.

Al Jazeera's John Hendren reports from Chicago