Because infrastructure is built in a local context, where materials, designs et cetera are chosen on what is/was normal. I’m genuinely curious: do you really not understand this?
I don't understand, sure it's cold for Texas, but not that cold (0F). Not even as close to as cold it gets frequently in the tundra (Winnipeg, Saskatoon) and north there in Canada. Yet pipes are freezing and the media is absolutely freaking out. It's 0 degrees, not that big a deal.
Point being, a place has all it's infrastructure designed for the climate it's in, not a different place's climate.
You can build infrastructure for this heat. The UK does not have that. This is why runways are melting and the media is freaking out.
There isn't really a one size fits all answer, each material has its pros and cons that works best for different conditions.
Interestingly boring. Idaho has a podcast about their roadway system. If you listen to enough episodes, one thing you learn is Idaho uses different kind of asphalt in different areas of the state. Why is that? Some part of the state have the high desert climate and other parts of the state have a more colder and mountainous climate.
I imagine Arizona infrastructure would fail pretty rapidly if temperatures somehow dropped to -30 celsius, and there would be Novosibirskians wondering what the big deal was.
We can't change this infrastructure immediately, it was built for English summers which used to mean 30 in the air, 50-60 ground temp. Now we're pushing 40 air and 80 ground...