Bridge / Tunnel / Dollar Collapse ?

The American Society of Structural Engineers (ASCE) have a website which every US citizen and tax payer should visit. It also helps you keep up to date on the Minneapolis Bridge Collapse ;

"As of 2003, 27.1% of the nation's bridges (160,570) were structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, an improvement from 28.5% in 2000. In fact, over the past 12 years, the number of bridge deficiencies has steadily declined from 34.6% in 1992 to 27.1% in 2003. The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) strategic plan states that by 2008, less than 25% of the nation's bridges should be classified as deficient. If that goal were met, 1 in 4 bridges in the nation would still be deficient. There were 590,750 bridges in the United States in 2000; however, one in three urban bridges (31.2% or 43,189) was classified as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, much higher than the national average. In contrast, 25.6% (118,381) of rural bridges were classified as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete."

".......The annual investment required to prevent the bridge investment backlog from increasing is estimated at $7.3 billion. Present funding trends of state departments of transportation call into question future progress on addressing bridge deficiencies......

Adding to these problems is the inability of the Administration and Congress to reauthorize the nation's Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21), which has now had six extensions since the program expired on September 30, 2003. The progress made in the TEA-21, which authorized $218 billion for the nation's highway and transit programs in 2001, is beginning to slip as America continues to shortchange funding for much-needed road and bridge repairs. etc., etc., "

Mean while Dubya is keeping Congress back in school until they pass a law allowing him to do anything he fucking well wants ....

Coming soon ... to a bridge, tunnel, subway, near you.

Oh! By the way the Big Dig collapse pictured above killing 38 year old Milena Delvalle, ... ?

The National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency responsible for investigating transportation accidents, (except 9/11) found that the accident was caused by inferior quality building materials, sloppy work on the part of the construction firms (Gannett Fleming, Inc., and Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff ) , and carelessness on the part of the local highways department, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

"I don't think anyone can feel the tunnels are safe, given what happened this morning," said Gov. Mitt Romney