Bridges

Considering a major bridge collapsed during rush hour traffic, it's a miracle the confirmed dead only number five and the missing could be as low as eight. Of course, a collapsed bridge causes the press to go into overdrive to let us know that all of our bridges are about to collapse by stating that most of the bridges are "structurally deficient" just as the Minnesota bridge was. I will give credit as some actually pointed out that "structurally deficient" does not mean the bridge is ready to drop (this bridge has been structurally deficient for 17 years). It means that there might be some flaws as little as bent guardrails. However, a lot of people just read the headline and don't go into the body of the story so they may not even drive on New Circle Road because overpasses are bridges.

On my drive to Missouri, I had to cross an Ohio River bridge, make an immediate left and cross a Mississippi River bridge. Was I concerned? Not really. Mainly, my airplane crash theory that it's safer to fly right after a plane crash because there is more focus on staying safe. After another plane goes in, do you think some grease monkey might be a little lax about tightening every bolt? Plus, it's not like bridges are dropping all over the country. I tried to think about recent bridge collapses and could only come up with one in Mobile and another in Oklahoma. I went looking for others and found that there have been more than a few collapses in this country, but there hasn't been one since 1989 that involved a bridge that wasn't hit by a barge or tornado.

So, what does it say about our 'crumbling infrastructure"? Maybe it's not so crumbling. So, you can feel relatively secure driving across bridges. Well, unless some barge captain drunk on vodka and bilge water plows into the pilings. Then you might want to take an alternate route. Does this mean things are fine? Of course not. Crap gets old and needs to be maintained or replaced. And yet, in one of the big ironies of life, the Minneapolis bridge was under repair when it fell. And there is some belief that the construction could be a contributing factor in the collapse. So, in spite of maintenance being done, a very rare bridge collapse occurred. What's the solution everyone is calling for? Blowing wads of cash......I mean investing in our infrastructure.

So, is that the answer? Probably not. The government has shown time and again that throwing money at a problem doesn't work. Why won't it work? To begin with, replacing a bridge isn't easy. The Minneapolis replacement bridge is expected to be finished in late 2008, and that's being fast tracked. That's sixteen months for a bridge when they already have some essential parts like river pilings and access ramps. Try starting from scratch. Louisville has been trying to get new Ohio River bridges for years, and they still haven't broken ground. You have to find a location (the old bridge has to stay in service until the new one is built), do environmental impact studies, use eminent domain to steal the land on the riverbanks, build access to it. Not surprising that long term plans are made for bridges. Hell, maintenance can be a bitch. It's going to take $50 million and ten years just to get a bridge painted in Louisville.

Plus, government is not the most efficient managers of money. In fact, they suck. Some people have complained about priorities because Minnesota approved funding for a new baseball stadium, but didn't fix the bridge. Please. As a rule, I oppose building baseball stadiums because it's baseball and I don't like it. However, the ballpark was funded with a sales tax increase which is separate from road funding. It's highly unlikely the money would have been used for (more) bridge repairs. As Thomas Sowell points out, transportation money is routinely spent on other crap because it will get politicians headlines. The use of earmarks in transportation bills has exploded. Yet, check what some of them are for. Bike trails and recreation centers.

However, truth be known, stupid transportation spending priorities aren't just about headlines. One of the most notorious transportation plans in American history was Boston's Big Dig. Massive cost overruns, leaking tunnels, dead people. I heard the project came about because a transportation commissioner in Boston didn't like walking under an elevated highway to get to his favorite restaurant. Always a sound basis for a $15billion project. Then there was my own personal Hell when I was in college. Whenever I traveled from Kentucky to Maryland, I had to drive through West Virginia, and every year, they seemed to be repaving I-64 between Huntington and Charleston. Every year. Either they were incompetent in the first (second, third) re-paving or the King of Pork, Robert "KKK" Byrd, was again siphoning federal dollars into his personal welfare state. Yet, when I went to watch Louisville play the WVU Brokeback Mountaineers in Morgantown two years ago, they were re-paving I-64 between Huntington and Charleston. Again.

So, why do you have "bridges to nowhere" and constant re-paving of West Virginia goat trails? Earmarks and influence. Ted "National Embarrasment" Stevens of Alaska and Byrd have both been in the Senate since the War of 1812 which means they hold senior positions in appropriations. And neither has any shame about using their influence for wasteful boondoggles. It's not just directed spending through earmarks. You think the bureaucrats who spend the rest of the money don't know who writes their budget? Yet, a lot of the earmarks get appropriated, but don't get spent because local governments don't think they are important enough to add their share of the funding. So, you have funding priorities based on vanity projects or having Senators older than gravel. Until that changes, any new money appropriated will just be wasted.