The whole country is horrified by the senseless deaths caused by the Minnesota bridge disaster. What's even worse is that this story will quickly disappear from the headlines and be replaced by the latest shenanigans by Lindsay Lohan. Our politicians will opine seriously on the topic and, when push comes to shove, nothing will get done.
If you haven't already read the excellent post by jetskreemr on the Minnesota bridge disaster and the article by Nick Coleman "Public Anger Will Follow Our Sorrow" in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, you should. The following question in the Coleman article made me think:
Would you drive your kids or let your spouse drive over a bridge that had a sign saying, "CAUTION: Fifty-Percent Bridge Ahead"?
So, I asked myself: Why don't we have signs on our bridges that report their most recent structural integrity scores? Even though, I imagine, the structural integrity reports for most bridges are public information, few people would take the time to look things up. And, even in light of this disaster, in a few months, most promises made this by our politicians to fix this problem will almost certainly fade away, be forgotten and little will be done.
A simple sign with an infrastructure integrity score on every bridge in the country will remind people every day that infrastructure ages and must be maintained and that investment in infrastructure must take much higher priority than it has today.
We have labels on our food, on our cigarettes, on little plastic bags warning us about suffocation. Why not our bridges?
Democrats must lead the way on this issue. After all, Republicans (particularly those in the current Administration) are not big on transparency.