http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/bridges/ en-us Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:12:03 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2228951/posts Washington Congressman Brian Baird says the states revenue projections for a toll on the new 12 lane Columbia River Crossing are innaccurate. By Christine Alexander Tuesday, April 14, 2009 As the plans for a new Interstate Bridge progress Washington Representative Brian Baird (D-Vancouver) is concerned that toll projections from the Washington Department of Transportation and the Columbia River Crossing are not realistic and will not create$1.35 billion in revenue. "The toll piece will probably not generate as much money as they indicated. In fact they will probably need more tolls because the Federal and State shares will probably be less."... WKEX AM Radio http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2228951/posts#comment Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:12:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2191042/posts Gruesome killing poses another test for US Muslims ERIC GORSKI, AP Religion Writer February 21, 2009 The crime was so brutal, shocking and rife with the worst possible stereotypes about their faith that some U.S. Muslims thought the initial reports were a hoax. The harsh reality of what happened in an affluent suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. — the beheading of 37-year-old Aasiya Hassan and arrest of her estranged husband in the killing — is another crucible for American Muslims. Here was a couple that appeared to be the picture of assimilation and tolerance, co-founders of a television network that aspired... SFChronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2191042/posts#comment Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:52:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2186131/posts Muzzammil “Mo” HASSAN, the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV Muzzammil “Mo” HASSAN, the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV, a Buffalo, NY based Islamic television Network he helped pioneer in 2004 amid hopes that it would help portray Muslims in a more positive light, reportedly admitted to police that he beheaded his wife at the television station yesterday afternoon.The victim was identified as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37, who just last month, filed for and received an order of protection against her husband. According to police, HASSAN walked into the Orchard Park police station shortly after... CanadaFreePress http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2186131/posts#comment Sun, 15 Feb 2009 15:30:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2180060/posts CHAMCHAMAL — Partnering is not a new concept to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but the practice is expanding in relation to projects in Iraq, and that is helping to fuel the success of reconstruction efforts. In November 2007, the Gulf Region Division's district, which operates within Iraq's seven northern provinces, initiated a partnering agreement in Sulaymaniyah for a $27.4 million project to design and renovate an existing fort into a correctional facility in Chamchamal. The project included more than 20 partners from several organizations, including, the Department of State's Regional Reconstruction Team, the office of the Iraqi prime... Multi-National Force - Iraq http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2180060/posts#comment Fri, 6 Feb 2009 23:25:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2172269/posts JALALABAD AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Jan. 26, 2009 – U.S. soldiers are building roads to remote areas in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province that are opening doors to a better way of life for local Afghans. Afghan security forces, local residents and U.S. soldiers lay planks for a bridge in the Lal Por district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Jay Bessey  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team are improving accessibility into the province’s Lal Por district by building a bridge and improving three miles of road. Prior to... American Forces Press Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2172269/posts#comment Mon, 26 Jan 2009 23:30:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2165627/posts The United States will need $1.6 trillion to repair damage to its infrastructure from a massive influx of immigrants, a new report reveals. In his report titled, "The Twin Crises: Immigration and Infrastructure," prominent researcher Edwin S. Rubenstein examines 15 categories of infrastructure: airports, border security, bridges, dams and levees, electricity (the power grids), hazardous waste removal , hospitals, mass transit, parks and recreation facilities, ports and navigable waterways, public schools, railroads, roads and highways, solid waste and trash, and water and sewer systems. Rubenstein, a financial analyst and former contributing editor of Forbes and economics editor of National Review,... WorldNetDaily.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2165627/posts#comment Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:08:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2152472/posts Confronted with a struggling transportation fund, lawmakers in Texas soon are expected to wage battle on various methods to help generate $14 billion for roads and bridges throughout the state. Another bill is intended to sideline the planned Trans-Texas Corridor. A report released this week from the Texas Department of Transportation says that the state will need to come up with $313 billion by 2030 for road and bridge maintenance and for congestion solutions. The report’s unveiling happened a couple of weeks before the Texas Legislature is set to convene its 2009 session. Lawmakers say they already were committed to... Land Line Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2152472/posts#comment Mon, 22 Dec 2008 02:50:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2142577/posts KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 3, 2008 – Afghan and coalition forces celebrated with local villagers Dec. 1 at a ribbon-cutting for a new low-water bridge near Kandahar city. The Commando Bridge will provide easier access to areas around the city, including a bazaar, a school under construction and a nearby highway. A rainstorm several months ago flooded the creek that the new bridge spans, making travel through the area difficult, and Afghan army officials approached coalition forces about the need for a bridge. The project was funded through the Commanders’ Emergency Response Program, which allows leaders to fund projects that meet... American Forces Press Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2142577/posts#comment Thu, 4 Dec 2008 05:28:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128868/posts Go ahead. I already find myself perpetually crooked over the table, living in this city. I should have rock-hard abs as often as I bend over. Mr. Bloomberg, I only ask that you are quick about it, so that I might go back to walking around Brighton Beach, Brooklyn on my never-ending mission to locate signs written in English. You have hurled a large medicine ball of saliva at the people of New York, shoving that huge middle finger of yours in the faces of the electorate by eliminating term limits – because only you could save the Apple from... WCBS-TV, New York City http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128868/posts#comment Sun, 9 Nov 2008 18:27:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089200/posts Joe Biden has blasted Palin on the Bridge to Nowhere. But what he fails to mention is that he actually voted to let Alaska have it. We'll explain that ahead. "Keeping Them Honest" tonight, we examine Joe Biden's record on earmarks and some bridges of his own. Biden has some other bridges of his own that he has to account for, however. Special investigations unit correspondent Drew Griffin is also Keeping Them Honest. GRIFFIN: But hold on, Senator Biden. Keeping him honest, we decided to check on 116 reasons in Delaware that one Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska may not... transcripts.cnn.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2089200/posts#comment Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:08:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086322/posts There is rising criticism that the Machang Bridge, which opened in July at the cost of millions of won, is only enriching speculative capitalists with tax money. They say that throughout the country, roads built through private investment are becoming white elephants where investors eat tax money via rough traffic predictions and contracts with excessive profit guarantees. The province of South Gyeongsang spent 380 billion won (US$337 million) in budget outlays and 190 million won in private capital to build the Machang Bridge linking Changwon and Masan. For the next 30 years, the earnings from the bridge tolls will be... The Hankyoreh http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086322/posts#comment Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:00:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2083844/posts Spc. Roberto Giron of the 74th Multi Role Bridging Company works to teach an Iraqi combat engineer how to properly set bridge panels during the unitÂ’s training session held at Camp Taji. The training of the Iraqi army combat engineer is just another step in helping the country sustain itself in the future. Photo by Spc. Michael Behlin. CAMP TAJI — Getting Iraq to the point of being able to sustain itself in all operations is an important factor in today’s war on terrorism. With the country being able to govern, defend, and sustain itself, the U.S. military presence has... Multi-National Force - Iraq http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2083844/posts#comment Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:04:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055031/posts Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills... Previous Thread http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055031/posts#comment Fri, 1 Aug 2008 19:17:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2052822/posts BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, July 28, 2008 – The Konar River runs for 150 kilometers and serves as a natural border between eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. Although the villages along the eastern and western banks of the river are part of Konar, the river reinforces cultural and political alliances between Afghans on the eastern shore and tribesmen across the border in Pakistan. The people on the eastern side have had very little connection to the provincial government. The Bar Sholtan Truck Bridge under construction in the Shigal district will give Afghan and coalition forces access to the most problematic... American Forces Press Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2052822/posts#comment Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:56:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051459/posts CAMP TAJI, Iraq, July 25, 2008 – Multinational Division Baghdad engineers with the 25th Infantry Division’s 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team journeyed to the Grand Canal Bridge in Taji Qada, northwest of Baghdad, on July 22 to monitor repair progress. Construction workers from a local construction company weld steel that is going to be used to fix the hole in the northbound lane of the Grand Canal Bridge in Taji, northwest of Baghdad, July 22, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Lyndsey R. Dransfield, Multinational Division Baghdad  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The bridge, which spans a portion... American Forces Press Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051459/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:13:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040058/posts Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S.... Previous Thread http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040058/posts#comment Thu, 3 Jul 2008 02:02:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047065/posts Rotting holes in steel support beams, enormous rust patches, small splits in steel girders and broken bracing are evident all along the underside of the John Greenleaf Whittier Bridge, the heavily traveled Interstate 95 span that crosses the Merrimack River between Amesbury and Newburyport. A just-released state safety report filed in the wake of last year's disastrous collapse of the similarly designed Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis gave the 57-year-old Whittier Bridge "poor" ratings due to deterioration. On a 10-step ranking system, the rating is just two steps above the point where engineers consider closing a bridge due to safety... Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047065/posts#comment Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:06:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2021192/posts WASHINGTON — The Texas Department of Transportation, long viewed as hyperpartisan and arrogant by some members of the state's congressional delegation, has been trying to soften its image by reaching out to lawmakers of both parties in the nation's capital. But while state transportation officials are having some success in easing the personal animus, they still face a stiff challenge in selling their policy agenda to the state's elected officials in Washington. Many Texans on the Potomac cringe at the agency's embrace of toll roads, the controversies surrounding the Trans-Texas Corridor and TxDOT's resistance to many of the highway earmarks... The Houston Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2021192/posts#comment Sun, 25 May 2008 21:55:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1994414/posts If the British and French can design and build spectacular bridges at a modest or at least reasonable cost, why can’t we? Or maybe we can, but we haven’t tried it lately, at least not in Oregon. The question comes up because Peter DeFazio, our man in Washington, is chairman of the highways and transit subcommittee in the U.S. House. His committee will write the next highway bill, probably by the end of 2009. And when DeFazio led his colleagues on a fact-finding trip to Europe, he saw the viaduct at Millau. It’s the most spectacular bridge he has ever... The Corvallis Gazette Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1994414/posts#comment Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:56:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993152/posts HARRISBURG -- With a section of a Pittsburgh bridge dropping 8 inches and an Interstate 95 support pillar cracking in Philadelphia, Gov. Ed Rendell is turning up the heat under the Legislature to provide infrastructure repair funds more quickly. Mr. Rendell sent a letter to all 253 legislators yesterday urging quick passage of a $240 million "supplemental debt authorization." His program of borrowing would enable state officials to fast-track repairs on some of the state's 6,000 bridges classified as structurally deficient, along with fixing ailing highways, repairing "state-owned, high-hazard dams" and beginning flood mitigation projects. Also yesterday, Mr. Rendell called... The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1993152/posts#comment Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:59:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1984014/posts Senior executives of the Texas Department of Transportation can expect some heavy grilling from state legislators when the state Legislature convenes next January, state Rep. Jim McReynolds said Friday. Speaking to the monthly First Friday luncheon of The Chamber, Lufkin-Angelina County, McReynolds said many legislators, especially those from rural East Texas, are unhappy with TxDOT leaders over the Trans- Texas Corridor project and how it has incorporated plans for an Interstate 69 through the region. McReynolds said he attended all four of the TxDOT hearings on the TTC held in his district, which included one in Diboll, and "never heard... Diboll Free Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1984014/posts#comment Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:24:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1966651/posts Not one of the 11 East Texans who approached the podium at Wednesday's hearing on Interstate 69 voiced support for the planned highway. "This is highway robbery, and we should not pursue this project," said David Simpson, a Longview resident and fifth-generation Texan. "This process has bypassed the Constitution. It has bypassed the U.S. Congress, and I'm opposed to it because of the unconstitutional way that it has been pushed through." The public hearing, held at Maude Cobb Convention and Activity Center, was a chance for residents to comment and ask questions about Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor. The corridor would extend... Longview News-Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1966651/posts#comment Thu, 7 Feb 2008 21:17:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1956252/posts It's not often that an individual makes such a significant and undoubtedly lasting impact on a state as big as Texas, but my long-time friend and Chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, Ric Williamson, certainly did. As most of you know, Ric died suddenly last month at age 55. It is true that as the state's transportation policymaker, he was a controversial figure. But, it has been my experience that people with visionary instincts and those who prefer to think outside the box are often considered different and unconventional. The world has a long legacy of resisting new ideas, even... MyWestTexas.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1956252/posts#comment Sat, 19 Jan 2008 14:58:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1954281/posts Combat engineers with Company E, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Stewart, Ga., set up an armored vehicle-launched bridge in Arab Jabour during Operation Acheron, Jan. 10. Photo by Sgt. Luis Delgadillo, Multi-National Division-Central. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Opening a new passage in southern Arab Jabour, Coalition Forces moved and set up an armored vehicle-launched bridge and cut 200 meters of new road, Jan 10. The new road is drivable and the bridge makes a 35-foot gap passable for vehicles. Connecting roads from Patrol Base Hawkes to vital canal roads in... Multi-National Force - Iraq http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1954281/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:31:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1919343/posts COLTON, N.Y., Oct. 30 — The bridge that carries Route 56 over the Raquette River here is so ordinary that it has no name, only a number, 1027260. But for now it is a bridge like no other, studded with instruments like a cardiac patient, giving up secrets that may explain how to keep others from falling. Bridges are big, dumb pieces of steel and concrete, and mostly out of mind, until one collapses, as the Interstate 35W bridge did in Minneapolis on Aug. 1. Even now, three months later, no one is sure why that happened, but it has... NY Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1919343/posts#comment Thu, 1 Nov 2007 05:25:38 GMT