Posted on 07/31/2008 6:32:14 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Study Finds Promises To Repair U.S. Infrastructure Have Gone Largely Unfulfilled By Alexis Christoforous, CBS 2 News
NEW YORK (CBS) ― The one-year anniversary of the Minnesota bridge collapse is putting renewed focus on the safety of our nation's infrastructure.
A new study finds many of the promises made then still have not been fulfilled, and lack of money is a big factor.
It's been a year since the massive bridge collapse in Minnesota sent 13 drivers plunging to their deaths.
The tragedy triggered nationwide bridge inspections, and promises to fix serious problems.
But a review by the Associated Press finds that only about one in ten bridges with structural defects has been repaired.
The slumping economy is among the reasons for the delay. With drivers cutting back on buying gas, and new car sales sagging, tax repair revenue is also way down.
"The federal government's percentage of infrastructure expenditures in this country has been going down dramatically, and it has been the states and cities that have been picking it up," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
Federal highway officials say that for now they are meeting their commitments, but may have to make cuts if revenues don't increase.
In Brooklyn, along the heavily traveled Belt Parkway, ten overpasses are listed as structurally deficient, some with no repairs planned.
Pennsylvania has about 6,000 bridges that need fixing.
"We are barely making a dent in the backlog that is facing Pennsylvania's bridges," Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell said. Local leaders say the nation's deteriorating infrastructure is a matter of public safety that must be fixed now, or it will pose a far bigger problem down the road.
State engineers and highway officials say the bridges reviewed by the AP are not in imminent danger of collapse, but they acknowledge that the structures need improvement, many soon rather than later.
for later
Well, certainly officials at all levels of gov’t should set aside needed funds to pay for things such as road and bridge repair.
I sure would love to know where our tax money goes, especially in places where there are toll bridges and highways. I thought tolls are supposed to pay for the maintenance of toll roads and bridges. And then our gas tax money is supposed to pay for highways. But in some places, I have heard that some officials siphon off excess gas tax money and use for other things. If they do that, and there are shortages of money for the needed road repairs, then whose fault is that? Are we really not paying enough in taxes?
I have seen many toll roads and bridges in many places which are in terrible shape. It makes you wonder what the heck the toll money is used for. If it’s not used for the maintenance of the road where the toll is collected, then what is the point of it?
Yes, and government with unlimited cash flow can create Utopia say ALL politicians.
In reality however, sh!t happens and at times even 13 people die at the same time because of fate. Gosh, maybe even more could die at one time but the truth be told, placing the burden of guilt upon all for not supporting government enough to prevent death is IMO revolting elitist arrogance by some who place self promotion far above what is best for all. This perpetual government "teat sucking" promotion has and will cause more disparity and misery in total than the fate filled and unstoppable loss of 13 lives.
If the states were not wasting billions on BS social engineering crap and such, they could fix the roads like they are supposed to.
Yep, IIRC, when the bridge went down someone threw out the number of $38B as what it would take to fix everything in the nation. That also happened to be the annual amount that went to the Highway Trust Fund. One year’s income to fix everything? Piece of cake, especially since they couldn’t fix it and therefore spend it that fast. The amount of money they’ve collected and spent is staggering. But what is there to show for it? Damn them all.
We are experiencing it presently...
The Minneapolis bridge collapse occurred after they took $700 million out of the various funds and blew it on a stupid, little-used light rail transit system. How many bridges would $700 million fix?
This argument is in every recent article about infrastructure repairs. It obviously doesn't make sense since the incremental need for repairs should be proportional to the amount of driving. The real problem is the decades of deferred maintenance on the infrastructure. There was never any incentive to set aside money for that until a big disaster occurred.
And is losing money everyday, however we are paying for making this debacle an even bigger one via property tax and special taxes placed upon all (in certain area's of the Twin Cities) whether we want this debacle or not. Much of it decided by the Met Council an unelected and publicly irremovable entity of government.
Being from the socialist state of Minnesota, I can tell you that I’m personally sick of this story. Honestly, this story gets more weepy ink than the towers’ collapse on 911. Of course, this is a huge whipping post for RAT to flog the Pubbies (our gub’ner is Tim Pawlenty (R)). They’re going to hold a candle light vigil marking the first anniversary.
Hey you idiots - bad things happen in this world and this was one of them. It’s over now, though, and it’s not our fault. If you need a victim to blame for your misplaced and weepy grief, go after the RATs that have totally neglected ALL state and federal infrastructure for decades. Better yet, unless you are a family member or friend of the (13) victims, shut up and get a life.
WCF,
Has there been any more in local news about the original bridge contractors telling the highway department that Pier 6, the one that shifted, should not be built as planned? One contractor wanted to “blast” to create a stronger foundation. When MnDOT refused, that contractor had the integrity to refuse to build a bad bridge and quit the project.
http://www.roadsbridges.com/I-35W-bridge-had-problems-during-initial-construction-newsPiece14622
“... a lawsuit that was filed against MnDOT, then known as the Highway Department, by the contractor of the original I-35W bridge over 40 years ago.
Industrial Construction claimed in the lawsuit that the bridge could not be built the way the state wanted. Engineers discovered an unexpected geology—underneath the bridge was 25 ft of clay, rock and granite, including small granite boulders and limestone float, which made it impossible to drill any deeper. The lawsuit said that the contractor had been misled about the geology and therefore the difficulty of the project.
The other contractor involved with the construction, HurCon, also had expressed concern about the project. It told MnDOT that one portion of the bridge, Pier 6, could not be built as planned. It wanted to blast the site, but MnDOT refused. HurCon then backed out of the project altogether.
The top decking right above Pier 6, located at the south end of the bridge, shifted 80 ft to the east as the bridge collapsed this past August. ...”
Whoa! You’re a bit of a researcher - too bad the Red Star ain’tt interested in any information that pins it all on Pawlenty, Carol Molnau (SP) and the conservative movement in general. You probably already know that infrastructure aging has been a conservative issue for years and one, like Social Security, that has been ignored for political expediency and planning blame strategy for the day when it does fail.
I cannot comment on the pilings or substratum involved in the pier you describe, but I did visit the site after the debris was mostly gone. The critical pier where failure was obvious seemed intact (perhaps even sound) over about 60-70% of the above ground monolith. It looked like massive failure in compression. That portion looked like a bomb had gone off - actually exactlyly like that. View any of many photos from WWII where saturation bombing was used on hardened targets and you’ll get the idea. Maybe 20-30 cubic yards of reinforced concrete just gone.
Bad, bad and more bad.
Bad things happen all the time, though. Gub’mint’s job is to install and oversee high quality infrastructure. This may, or may not, have been up to specs at installation or repair, but it never was because Pawlenty refused to raise taxes. I say RIP to the victims, but to hell with the MNDFL and their lacky lickspittles in the MSM.
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