States Get Creative After Bridge Collapse

(CBS)  It was the height of the afternoon rush hour when a seemingly sturdy Minneapolis bridge suddenly came apart at the seams - taking 13 lives down with it.

It was a wake-up call about the nation's crumbling infrastructure, CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports.

"A bridge in America just shouldn't fall down," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

The country's 152,000 structurally deficient bridges would cost $140 billion to fix.

"The states have started to step up, which is good," said Andrew Herrmann of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Herrmann, a bridge expert, says the Minneapolis collapse has spurred several states to get creative.

Missouri made a deal with a single contractor to improve 800 of its worst bridges and maintain them for 25 years.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell pushed through a $350 million bond issue. But during a visit to Minneapolis with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rendell told CBS News he needed $80 billion more.

"There is no way on this good God's earth that Pennsylvania alone can come up with that type of funding," said Rendell. "So this is something that's gonna need state and local and federal cooperation."

But federal cooperation has been slow in coming. Congress is still debating a bill proposed right after the collapse to provide $1 billion for emergency bridge repairs.

Meanwhile, federal gas tax funds used to pay for road repairs are shrinking as Americans drive less to avoid high gas prices.

"If you had enough funding, what would you do?" Cordes asked Nick Roper, a chief bridge engineer for Northern Virginia, one year ago.

"I would replace every deficient bridge that's in my district," he said.

CBS News asked Roper this year if anything's changed.

"Last year at this time you told me you have 30 deficient bridges in your district. How many do you have now?" Cordes said.

"Right now we have 56," he said.

What happened?

"Just inspections," he said.

And it's happening nationwide, which may not be a bad thing. After investigators determined that the Minneapolis bridge lacked proper support, 750 similar spans underwent thorough inspections.

"As a result of that, I believe significantly more bridges have been strengthened … in a way that enables them to be much safer than they were before," said Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board

Sadly, it took a tragedy to start the nation on what is going to be a very long and expensive journey.

[whiskyrokkr]

OneWorldUSA
-----------
Good point about SUV''s but diesel traffic has really picked up in the last 20 years.

[closethippy1]

Is anyone in government doing their freaking jobs???
Congress allowing Jr. to go to war for bogus reasons, Katrina victims being blamed for suffering a flood, the mortgage crisis eating up the country because no one bother to put a stop to the party, the entire infraestructure falling down to pieces because no one is minding them or, if they do, they find themselves trying to pull money from out of their @sses!!
How can we keep electing to power people who ABSOLUTELY HATE government so much they don''t care if the country goes to hell instead of choosing people who understand what the problem is and try to make it better instead of getting rid of it?

[oneworldusa]

Posted by tbweb at 02:36 AM : Aug 01, 2008

-Good point. Another way illegals are hurting American citizens.

[tbweb]

The bridges are crumbling due to the excess unanticipated weight of oversized SUVs people don''''t need. So, not only are they burning perfectly good fuel that could accommodate 3 vehicles, they are hurting our infrastructures.

Posted by OneWorldUSA at 01:53 AM : Aug 01, 2008,,,

I agree, the extra loads are hurting our infrastructure, especially all those Tractor Trailers from Mexico, now that Mexican truck drivers can drive in the U.S., carrying all those illegals into the U.S., those illegals weight a lot when crammed in like sardines!

[jackie0428]

Every time Rosie O''Donnell crosses a bridge, it collapses a couple weeks later. Coincidence? Hmmm, maybe not.

[oneworldusa]

The bridges are crumbling due to the excess unanticipated weight of oversized SUVs people don''t need. So, not only are they burning perfectly good fuel that could accommodate 3 vehicles, they are hurting our infrastructures.

[dcnewton2]

This Story deliberately misleads viewers into believing that the I-35W bridge collapse was the result of poor maintenance.

Nonsense! This bridge collapse was caused by a critical flaw in the original design. The National Transportation Safety Board stated unequivocally that undersized gusset plates were the cause.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/transportation/jan-june08/bridge_01-15.html

Obviously CBS news feels that urban myths and hysterical conspiracy theories about spending priorities make more entertaining television than mundane engineering details.

Doug

[spadeisspade]

I have the answer! Along with conserving gas, stop driving on bridges-or risk death. Maybe if we risked death everytime we bought gas, it would actually make a difference.

[tbweb]

The answer is fairly simple. Send more goods by rail, restrict truck weights and people drive smaller, lighter cars. Less holes in roads, no danger to bridges, less fuel used.
Right now I agree with an oil company winfall tax to patch things up. Quickest way forward.

Posted by photoking at 12:45 AM : Aug 01, 2008,,,

This solution only applies to U.S. trucks, drivers and companies. You must remember the Bush administration recently allowed Mexican trucks and drivers delivery access within the U.S. with their unsafe trucks and drivers! What about them?

[photoking]

The answer is fairly simple. Send more goods by rail, restrict truck weights and people drive smaller, lighter cars. Less holes in roads, no danger to bridges, less fuel used.
Right now I agree with an oil company winfall tax to patch things up. Quickest way forward.