Minn. Bridge Collapse Reveals Brittle America

[adios]

Minn. Bridge Collapse Reveals Brittle America: Expert Op-Ed

Age and heavy use are by no means isolated conditions. According to a report card released in 2005 by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 160,570 bridges, or just over one-quarter of the nation’s 590,750-bridge inventory, were rated structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The nation’s bridges are being called upon to serve a population that has grown from 200 million to over 300 million since the time the first vehicles rolled across the I-35W bridge. Predictably that has translated into lots more cars. American commuters now spend 3.5 billion hours a year stuck in traffic, at a cost to the economy of $63.2 billion a year.

It is not just roads and bridges that are being stressed to the breaking point......

The fact is that Americans have been squandering the infrastructure legacy bequeathed to us by earlier generations. Like the spoiled offspring of well-off parents, we behave as though we have no idea what is required to sustain the quality of our daily lives. Our electricity comes to us via a decades-old system of power generators, transformers and transmission lines—....

My understanding is that a lot of the bridges built during that time period may have underestimated the factors related to safety that were required and may have cut some corners in saving costs. Don't really know though. Don't have a warm fuzzy about the bridges yet.

[tomdemaine]

Must ... resist ... hijack!!

[Bobbo539]

1 of 160,000 bridges falls down on its own in the last 40 years. Yet, this author thinks that our way of life and country are approaching the breaking point. People over react to much.

[iron81]

I remember an incident maybe 25 years ago where a ship rammed a pier. A section of a bridge over Tampa Bay maybe 200 feet high gave way. The problem was, it was foggy that day, so no one could see the collapsed section. People continued driving off the bridge into Tampa Bay for a good 5 minutes. [img]/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

That said, if our only goal was to prevent catastrophic deaths, we spend way too much on bridge repair. Its not our only goal so thats fine, but these deaths are extremely unlikely. However, the condidition of our infrastructure is definately getting worse, not better.

[AzDesertRat]

we need over $1.6 trillion (according to recent estimates) to fix our aging infrastructure. I can't wait to see what politicians will do to try to get the money for this.

<<<---believes federal DOT should be abolished and more roads should be privatized.

[NeBlis]

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1 of 160,000 bridges falls down on its own in the last 40 years. Yet, this author thinks that our way of life and country are approaching the breaking point. People over react to much.

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[adios]

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1 of 160,000 bridges falls down on its own in the last 40 years. Yet, this author thinks that our way of life and country are approaching the breaking point. People over react to much.

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The particular bridge in question was built in 1968 I believe. Is a bridge built in 2000 more likely to collapse than a bridge built in 1968? My quibble with your thinking is that it doesn't take into account that bridges built 40+ years ago may not have the lifetimes that people thought they had. I read an article in the NY Times today that stated that many bridges built between 1950-1970 have a serious design flaw. I invite you to read that article. Maybe there's really not a problem as you suggest but the statistic doesn't prove it one way or the other.

[John Kilduff]

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1 of 160,000 bridges falls down on its own in the last 40 years. Yet, this author thinks that our way of life and country are approaching the breaking point. People over react to much.

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One bridge? Haven't there been several that have collapsed, at least?

The power grid is aging too, and becoming overworked/overloaded.

I wouldn't say our infrastructures are "approaching the breaking point" but they are heading in that direction if little is done.

The population has increased 50% from 200 million to 300 million, so the number of cars must have increased by more than 50%.

I think the widespread overload on aging infrastructure is another good reason to reduce immigration (both illegal and legal). Does anyone think massive traffic jams are a good thing? There didn't use to be nearly so much congestion when I was a kid. In the USA, isn't traffic congestion directly correlated to density of population in any given area and to width (number of lanes) of roads?

Many roads, even interstates, just weren't built for the current volume of traffic. In the Northeast corridor, I-95 really needs to be widened by a lane in each direction -- but it can't be done, no room in many areas to widen it.

Also, the infrastructure can't be rebuilt and/or adequately reinforced overnight, even if funds are allocated for it.

The country isn't in "dire straits" yet but in my opinion these are growing problems that should not be belittled or minimalized. Such problems are heading in the direction of getting worse, not better.

Thanks for reading.

[Borodog]

Newsflash: Government cannot rationally allocate resources.

[elwoodblues]

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Newsflash: Government tirade

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Biased reporter. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]