Just heard this interesting factoid on the Ed Show, which I thought I'd pass along.
Ed had this video clip of a Civil Engineer on the site of the Skagit Bridge collapse in WA. The Engineer summarized America's aging infrastructure problem like this:
"If you look at our 100 largest metro areas, there are more structurally deficient bridges, than there are McDonald's Restaurants in the country."
Wow! I pass one (or several) of those (McDonald's) every time I take a drive somewhere new. You probably do too. This should be some "food" for thought.
This report appears to be the source of the Engineer's vivid thought-picture:
America's Most Dangerous Urban Bridges
by William Pentland, Contributor, Forbes.com -- 11/04/2011
[...]
All told, 69,223 U.S. bridges are classified as “structurally deficient,” according to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Many of these bridges have exceeded their 50-year design lifespan. In fact, the average age of an American bridge is 42 years. To put this in perspective, the report notes that “there are more deficient bridges in these 102 regions than there are McDonald’s restaurants in the entire country -- 18,239 versus about 14,000.”
[...]
“While Congress has repeatedly declared bridge safety a national priority, existing federal programs offer no real incentives or assurances that aging bridges will actually get fixed,” the report concludes. Moreover, the current level of investment in upgrading U.S. bridges is ludicrously inadequate given the “rapidly growing backlog of aging bridges.”
Investing in our common
infrastructure, used to be an investment in the future of America ... part of what it means to provide for the "general welfare."
No longer -- ever since the GOP Government-haters took over Congress. Unless of course, free-market forces like McDonald's, somehow decide that investing in stuff like bridges -- just might be good for business!
Ya think?
Ed Schultz was on an Infrastructure tear today. Lots more than just that Civil Engineer clip, like Senator Sherrod Brown with more a few choice thoughts on the subject.
Republicans have a bridge to sell you
The Ed Show, MSNBC -- May 26, 2013
link to video