U.S. Infrastructure: Bridges - Just one of many issues we are facing today

The reason for this thread is to examine an issue that we have here in the United States. Most of the infrastructure built decades ago wasn't built to last forever. One area where we are seeing issues is US bridges. Today, we had another bridge collapse and not too long ago (2007) a bridge collapsed in Minnesota on I-35 that could 13 people and hurt many more.

From the website below we can see how much it would cost to bring all these bridges up to code and how they're lacking the funds to be able to keep up with the declining bridges around the country.

2013 Report Card on American Infrastructure

Over two hundred million trips are taken daily across deficient bridges in the nation’s 102 largest metropolitan regions. In total, one in nine of the nation’s bridges are rated as structurally deficient, while the average age of the nation’s 607,380 bridges is currently 42 years. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) estimates that to eliminate the nation’s bridge deficient backlog by 2028, we would need to invest $20.5 billion annually, while only $12.8 billion is being spent currently. The challenge for federal, state, and local governments is to increase bridge investments by $8 billion annually to address the identified $76 billion in needs for deficient bridges across the United States.

Well, to the story today the Interstate 5 Bridge over the Skagit River in Washington state collapsed around 7 p.m. on Thursday, dumping cars and people into the water, KIRO-TV reported.



At least three cars were on the span when it fell into the river. Rescue teams are currently searching the water for survivors. Several people have been spotted sitting on their submerged cars, waiting for help. First responders have already pulled one man off the roof of his vehicle, prompting nearby eyewitnesses to applaud, The Skagit Valley Herald reported.

Rest of the story

I guess what concerns me is that I believe this is a trend that we will continue to see, and I anticipate it getting much worse if funding isn't made available to take care of these deteriorating issues. And bridges is just one area of concern, right now there are many other areas that are beginning to show their wear and tear. Just imagine, if we weren't so concerned with playing the "world's police" we could use some of that $500-700 billion (spent on military) to fix the infrastructure of our country back home.

I honestly wish my country could get it's priorities straight and put its time and effort in fixing US, before we try to fix everyone else. We have MANY issues back home where that wasted war money could be spent. Anyways, seeing another bridge collapse kinda tweaked something in me tonight and I decided to write about it...

Take care ATS

~Jhn7537

We have no money for bridges and roads, we have to bailout to big to fail mega banks and CEO fat cats.

Best regards,

Obama

Originally posted by camaro68ss
We have no money for bridges and roads, we have to bailout to big to fail mega banks and CEO fat cats.

Best regards,

Obama

While also doing everything we can to bring Democracy (steal resources cough cough) to the Middle East...

that was a fairly new bridge, and it was taken out by a semi..........kind of important information

Originally posted by fugazzi777
that was a fairly new bridge, and it was taken out by a semi..........kind of important information

Well, when the story first came out the cause was unknown, but even if that's the case that a semi hit a portion of the bridge, it shouldn't just collapse... And this was just one example. Not sure how you missed the whole top portion of the story that discusses the issue of US bridges in this country... The WA incident was just a small piece...