Posted on 08/03/2007 9:08:43 PM PDT by gpapa
The cause of Wednesday's bridge collapse in Minneapolis isn't yet known, but that hasn't stopped the tragedy from reigniting the debate over the condition of U.S. "infrastructure," which has to be the ugliest word in the English language. It's even uglier when Congress and the building lobby use it as an excuse to spend more without rethinking their own contributions to the problem.
Nobody denies that our roads and bridges are feeling the stress of age, more drivers and heavier truckloads. It's possible that the I-35W bridge collapse over the Mississippi was the result of such stress, specifically from the bridge's underwater supports having eroded. According to the Reason Foundation, a font of information and good sense on transportation issues, nearly 148,000 U.S. highway bridges were deficient in 2005. That's nearly one in four across America.
Minnesota, notably, was fifth best among the 50 states, with only 13% of its bridges deemed deficient. Rhode Island's highway crossings were in the worst shape, with 53% reported to be deficient. When a state racks up that kind of performance, its politicians are a lot worse than "deficient." According to Reason, 36 states had a bridge deficiency rate of 20% or higher. This doesn't mean they're about to collapse, but it does signal the need for repair and eventual replacement
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Yup. They can start with the Big “way over budget” Dig.
Plenty of money went into that sink hole that could have been used to repair a few bridges.
Shouldn’t the states be thinking about allocating their own money to pay for repairs on their bridges and roadways? Why wait for the feds to kick in money to repair bridges and roadways within their own states that benefit them greatly?
In 1991, the five-year highway cost $151 billion. By 1998 it was up to $217 billion, and in 2005 a Republican Congress agreed to spend $286 billion and would have spent far more had President Bush not threatened a veto.
What matters as much as the amount, however, is the pattern of such spending. And you will not be surprised to learn that along with greater highway spending came more Congressional earmarks. What the Members giveth, they also taketh for themselves. In the 1981 highway bill, there were all of 10 earmarks. A decade later there were 1,850, and by 2005 the earmarks had multiplied to 6,371, or nearly 10% of total spending.
Sadly all they do is increase salaries, give big pensions for not working and what we give them money to do, never gets done.
States have been sitting on money that is earmarked for mass transit programs. It’s idiotic. There are billions for light rail programs, but states can’t use the money for freeways or freeway repairs.
Nothing but a huge opportunity for graft and corruption.
Good point...all the money is allocated for mass transit and their damn effort to get us out of our cars... I wouldn’t be surprised if bridge and road repair is at the bottom of the list!
How many politicians are there in office right now with an engineering background?
Why would an engineer want to give up such a successful career and become a corrupt politician?
This reminds me of my brothers episode when called for jury duty. It was a simple five-day case and he was amongst the 25 people called for the interview. The minute he declared that he was a computer engineer...he was off the jury. He has discussed this with a number of co-workers...same experience. The logic that these guys see...is that a engineer could put together all of the evidence in a fashion and convince the rest of the jury of the absolute facts in the case. Therefore, the prosecutor and the defense would prefer a guy like this not sit on the jury.
I would be curious across the entire US...how many times engineers are dismissed from juries.
A good deal of it comes down to no one gets elected on the basis of fixing up a bridge that seems to be working fine versus a shiny new road with all its ribbon cutting fanfare.
I can’t wait to get rid of these guys. Saw a video of Mitt in a restaurant where this waitresswasmaking comments about health care. She was right about one thing. Our Congress, etc, all have health care and we don’t. It was the way she said it that made me notice.
“The logic that these guys see”
No ego in there is there? Every engineer I’ve ever known I would not want on a jury because they see things differently than “regular people.” My brother and Dad are included in this.
I’ve been in a jury twice now and was never asked my occupation.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2D6143BF935A35755C0A966958260
Tennessee Is Faulted In Collapse of Bridge
Published: June 6, 1990
The National Transportation Safety Board said today that a shifting river channel caused the highway bridge collapse that killed eight motorists in Tennessee last year but that state officials should have corrected the problems with the bridge a decade ago.
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