A Bridge That Has Nowhere Left to Go (NY's Tappan Zee Bridge)

NY Times ^ | January 17, 2006 | PATRICK McGEEHAN

[Dilbert56]

Don't replace it. Get a few retired aircraft carriers and line them up stem to stern across the river. Connect the flight decks with ramps and you have an instant bridge. For that option, pick a narrow section of the river rather than the Tappan Zee.

[nicollo]

Road building is specifically mentioned in the Constitution for the simple reason that good roads mean efficient commerce.

The Constitution authorizes federal spending for "post roads" only. That is, if you want a federal road ya gotta get a post office first.

Constitutional legitimacy for the Eisenhower Interstate System was derived not from the "post roads" clause but from the interstate commerce and "common Defence" clauses. Thus the official name of the program was, "Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways."

Congress can find constitutional authority for just about anything it wants, of course. The point here is that general road building was not an express constitutional power of Congress.

[redpoll]

Thanks for the lesson on road building. I didn't know that. Still, I'd rather have the government building roads than funding the Lawrence Welk Museum, helping teenage girls who can't cross their legs on a date, building HUD homes, or any of the other milllion things that should be left to the states or the people. Interesting stuff about the post roads, though.

[LibertarianInExile]

"True Fact: There are somewhat large rooms in the base of the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. These were originally rented by stores for storage of wine and other products that came off the ships. Later, the space was rented to artists as studios. Now it's just storage for the city."

So much for NYC privatization.

[VeniVidiVici]

Maybe you’re thinking of the George Washington bridge. I think I got taken for $10 crossing that thing.