Bridge collapse in MSP

Apologize for reposting the truth, F_B.

 

Sorry.

That wasn't so hard. Et tu, Yawn?

 

As someone else noted, you get what you pay for.
I don't know if anyone has connected the dots, but if the money that was cut from the roads budget went to Iraq, as it likely did, that's just one more thing to add to the Bush ledger.

On a side note, an ex-girlfriend, her family's company builds roads and bridges. They also repair bridges. They stand to make some serious money, since bridge repair is going to be all the rage.

 

From today's Star Tribune

More than a year before the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed, a consulting firm advised the state of Minnesota that the aging bridge should be reinforced with steel plating.
Instead of following that advice, state officials asked the firm to come up with other options.

Six months later, the URS Corp. did just that.

It repeated its recommendation for steel plates, but offered an alternative described as "most cost efficient" -- the state could inspect the 40-year-old bridge for cracks and repair any it found.

The state chose that route.

Asked to explain why the state wanted more options after receiving the initial report, the state's top bridge engineer, Dan Dorgan, said the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) was concerned that drilling holes to attach the steel plates would weaken the bridge.

"It was certainly not a money issue at all," Dorgan said.

But MnDOT officials found themselves on the defensive Friday as questions were raised in Minnesota and Washington about their decisionmaking in the months and years before Wednesday's disaster.

On the House floor Friday, U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., accused MnDOT of turning down an opportunity to use a $200,000 high-tech inspection technology on the bridge that might have detected a fatal flaw.

Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau defended her department's decisionmaking and insisted that safety was its prime priority.

Asked whether budget considerations had anything to do with decisions on bridge maintenance, Molnau replied: "I would say it did not. Our inspections told us what needed to be done on the bridge."

 

Idiot.

Wanna play that game? OK. Take the billions spent on light rail in Minneapolis, which nobody rides, and spend that on bridge repair. One more thing to add to someone else's ledger.

Playing political games while bodies are barely cold is reprehensible. Then again, a lot of lefties don't mind doing that, because to them, EVERYTHING is political.

 

Newsweek.com had a state-by-state list of bridges that are functionally obsolete and/or structurally deficient. The numbers are frightening.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20107457/site/newsweek/

 

L_B,

You might want to check this out. The ridership numbers may be of interest to you.

metrocouncil.org/transportation/lrt/lrt.htm

 

Don't confuse him with the truth.

"Nobody rides lightrail in the Cities anymore. It's too crowded." - Bombo Rivera.

 

It's always fun to play When Wingnuts Project.
Remember this golden oldie:
* "There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus," DiIulio tells Esquire. "What you've got is everything--and I mean everything--being run by the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."

Yeah, it's "the lefties" all right.

 

To me it is simple math.
The original budget was $350 billion, it was cut to $200 billion by the Bush White House.
So where did that $150 billion go?
The most obvious answer is that it went to fund the Iraq war or to fund gaps in other things that had money taken away to fund the Iraq War.
You can't spend $750 billion and it not have an impact.
And it isn't different, to me, when the Corps of Engineers had the levee maintenance and repair money cut and it was sent to fund Iraq.
The six years have shown that you can't expect basic competence from the Bush White House. It just isn't going to happen.
The country is literally crumbling away and 25 percent of the population still can't see the cause. Those are the people I feel sorry for.

 

Did I miss something, or are we still stuck on one bridge?

 

Ask him.