Free Republic

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...

United States City planningTunnel vision Feb 22nd 2007 | SEATTLE From The Economist print editionMayor and governor are mud-wrestling over Seattle's waterfront   APThere's a great view here somewhere IT SHOULD be among the most beautiful cityscapes on the west coast: a mural of distant mountains, piers jutting into sun-flecked Elliott Bay and giant orange cranes plucking containers from freighters. Overlooking Seattle's waterfront, however, is a noisy 1950s elevated highway in hideous grey concrete.The elevated highway—known in Seattle simply as “the viaduct”—is also a hazard. It was damaged by an earthquake in 2001, and engineers believe that another quake...

DURHAM -- An official with the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense said the black nationalist organization is providing security for the woman who has accused Duke lacrosse players of raping her. And the organization is distributing recruitment brochures with information about a rally planned near the Duke campus for Monday. The brochures ask, "Had enough of disrespect and racism from Duke University?" The materials contain photographs of Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, the two white lacrosse players indicted and charged with raping a black exotic dancer at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. the night of March 13-14. "We'll do...

After standing tall across the Kinzua Gorge for more than a century, 11 towers on the Kinzua Viaduct went crashing into the valley below around 3:15 p.m. Monday. "It appears as though a high gust of wind or a tornado has hit," said Steven Brode of W.M. Brode Construction Co., the contractors hired by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to renovate the structurally-deteriorating viaduct. "The bridge has sustained some damage," said Donald Main, assistant director of the Bureau of State Parks, early Monday afternoon. He added that crews were headed to the scene to evaluate the damage,...