You just knew this was going to be discovered.
Structural deficiencies in the Interstate 35W bridge that collapsed Wednesday were so serious that the Minnesota Department of Transportation last winter considered bolting steel plates to its supports to prevent cracking in fatigued metal, according to documents and interviews with agency officials.The department went so far as to ask contractors for advice on the best way to approach such a task, which could have been opened for bids later this year.
MnDOT considered the steel plating at the recommendation of consulting engineers who told the agency that there were two ways to keep the bridge safe: Make repairs throughout the 40-year-old steel arched bridge or inspect it closely enough to find flaws that might become cracks and then bolt the steel plating only on those sections.
But no, it was decided drilling all those holes might weaken the bridge further, so the DOT opted for inspections.
At some point, "study study study" needs to change to "repair repair repair." And it's not just Minnesota; every state in this country has tried to avoid doing maintenance work on our infrastructure. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers' latest report card
Between 2000 and 2003, the percentage of the nation's 590,750 bridges rated structurally deficient or functionally obsolete decreased slightly from 28.5% to 27.1%. However, it will cost $9.4 billion a year for 20 years to eliminate all bridge deficiencies. Long-term underinvestment is compounded by the lack of a Federal transportation program.
That's just bridges. The total estimate to fully repair America's infrastructure is $1.6 trillion dollars over the next five years. That's aviation, bridges, dams, drinking water systems, the national power grid, hazardous waste removal systems, navigable waterways, public parks and recreation, rail, roads, schools, security, solid waste, transit, and wastewater systems.
That's unquestionably a ton of money. On the other hand, think of the jobs that would create. The construction industry would boom like it hasn't in years, and just in time to take up the slack in the housing industry. And of course there's a ripple effect; all the materials that construction and repair would require have to be produced, purchased, shipped and stored.
Helluva lot better than spending $1 trillion on Iraq.
Posted by Linkmeister at August 3, 2007 12:01 AM | TrackBackThanks for the info. Kind of scary - acutally very scary. I travel over a bridge from Pennsylvania to New Jersey twice a week for business - that's 4 crossings.
Posted by: cassie-b at August 3, 2007 04:20 AMI'm not a fan of Gov. Pawlenty, so I was pleased to see the DFL nailing him almost immediately on his veto of the state transportation bill. It had money for repair, money for upgrades, and lots of money for public transportation - principally a light rail line from downtown St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis.
He vetoed it because he is held captive by the "no taxes" wing of the Republican party. He also has national ambitions, as evidenced by serving as honorary co-chair of John McCain's presidential bid. Word around here is that he's angling for the VP spot on somebody's ticket. He was really counting on the Republican convention next year to boost his visibility within the party.
He's whining about not assigning blame, a line he obviously learned from the White House faction. I can't imagine Coleman holding on to office, and the public anger at the way he has systematically disinvested in our state isn't going to go away anytime soon. I'm thinking (in a poetic kind of way) that the 35W bridge took Pawlenty's national ambitions down with it.
Posted by: Juli Thompson at August 3, 2007 06:23 AMOur local news informed us that seven of our bridges are rated the same as the one that collapsed. I believe that we're currently too broke to do anything about it.
Posted by: Kate at August 4, 2007 04:56 PM