Bridges Going Down

I usually find Eugene Robinson to be a hit-or-miss columnist for the Washington Post, but his editorial on the recent bridge collapse in Minnesota is excellent and highlights why this is such a big story.  It's short, and here is an excerpt:

"The rating simply meant that the bridge had structural deficiencies that at some point should be addressed -- just like 27.1 percent of the nation's 590,750 bridges.

That estimate comes from the American Society of Civil Engineers, a trade group that every few years issues a report card on the nation's aging infrastructure. The engineers' most recent survey in 2005 gave the country an overall grade of D -- and the reason for the low mark, as always, was that we don't spend nearly what we should on maintenance and repair.

Bridges were actually deemed to be in better shape than dams, roads or the power grid. But the civil engineers estimated that it would cost $9.4 billion a year for 20 years "to eliminate all bridge deficiencies."

That's not a lot of money in the context of a $13 trillion economy. But does anyone think we're going to make infrastructure a national crusade?"

That's an excellent point.  It's sad but true: politicians, governments and people often blow money on shit they don't need and neglect things that really should be maintained.  We all know people who drive fancy cars but can't pay their bills.  And it's a bit ironic that this bridge collapse happened in view of the new Minnesota Twins stadium project, which I'm sure will cost anywhere from 350 million to 600 million dollars.  It seems cities can always scrounge up money for stadiums while bridges and schools fall into disrepair.  But this isn't a condemnation of bad governance as much as it is a sad commentary on our society as a whole. 

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