http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1598099/posts
“I just completed my refresher course on bridge inspection standards and thought its history was a good example of why the Federal Government constantly expands.
The number of bridges in this country increased dramatically in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Part of this was because of the Federal Interstate program, but other roads (state, county and city) were also being built in greater numbers than ever before.
Unfortunately, there was no uniform program of bridge inspection and maintenance for them. Very few places did inspect them (and most of them hired outside companies like the one I work for to do it). Even fewer did preventative maintenance. Consequently, there were more and more bridge failures.
Luckily, most bridge failures did not kill people. However, a few did. The 1967 Silver Bridge collapse that killed 46 people led to a provision in the 1968 Federal Highway Act to develop uniform bridge inspection standards. The first manual was released in 1970 for local governments to use. It was voluntary.
A few places adopted the standards. Most did not. Even among those who adopted the standards, VERY few did the maintenance that the inspections revealed the need for. This became a legal liability, so some places that had adopted the standards later dropped them.
The local politicians wanted to be seen turning over the first shovel of dirt or cutting the ribbon on a new bridge, but allocating money for maintenance was not high on their list of priorities. The odds were pretty good that a bridge failure would happen on someone elses watch, not theirs. So locally, money was only allocated for new construction, not inspection, not maintenance, and not repair.
Consequently, there were several high profile (meaning there was a loss of life) bridge failures between 1970 and 1987. So starting in 1988, Congress decided to offer a huge pot of money for inspection, repair, and replacement of bridges. Up to 80% of the cost for this kind of work is subsidized by the Feds. Naturally, that came out of our tax money. And also naturally, the money had LOTS of strings attached. It worked pretty good though. Almost every local entity is now lining up to get some of that money. Inspection, maintenance and repair of bridges is MUCH better than it was as little as 15 years ago.
I have absolutely no doubt that this could be done less expensively if done locally, but the fact is, the local politicians failed to do this. They were given many chances, and repeatedly (and I think deliberately) failed to do so. So the Federal Government stepped into the void.
I have also seen pretty much the same thing in roads and sewers. Local governments do NOT provide for adequate inspection, preventative maintenance (other than pothole repair — which can be felt by the general public), or repair of public structures (neither in-house nor hiring of consultants). They wait until something breaks (which is when companies like mine are called in). It costs all of us in the long run.”
How much did they include in last year’s budget for highways? Why do we need more? We just need better priorities.
As usual, Washington closes the gate only when the horses are out.
Make political hay while the sun shines.
(crickets)
I though so.
Money=rat hole.
Privatized the highways, transponder everything. Anything a government can do, thieves can do cheaper and better.
Most of the Federal Highway money goes to West Virginia so they can build highways to no where. Thank you Senator Byrd.
Hagel is desperate for a national light to shine on him because he wants to be President.
SIBs are one alternative to gas taxes but have only limited use that has varied from state to state.
The ultimate alternative to gas taxes is user fees.