Most bridges in the US are dangerously old

No shit!

how embarrassing to be an American.

Being that this is my day job, this is sad but true. Unfortunately, municipality, state, and federal budgets are stretched thin. However, there are Public-Private Partnerships, the private coming in the form foreign direct investments. Such is the case with Cintra, a Spanish consortia that is developing, constructing, and leasing a multimodal corridor (roadway, rail, utility, pipeline) across the continent into an inland port in Kansas City. The only down side is that we will have to pay tolls to use facilities we have already been taxed by our government.

You should understand that only interstate roadways and US DOT highways (roadways that cross state lines) are covered by Federal Funding. State's must budget their routes and roadways, as do counties and municipalities. There may be minimal Federal Funding, in some cases.

Regardless of who is in the White House or Congress, this move is eventually inevitable.

Well good thing that the earthquake danger forces all the bridges in California to be retrofitted regularly since they have to stand up to greater than usual stresses

We could all be flying.....roads and bridges would seem as antiquated as the old covered wagon trails....if like onechance said......we did not spend all of our time trying to annihilate other life on this planet....this country was started by people finding a new land.....stealing everything they could.......commiting genocide on a wonderful group of natives....great start......and not much has changed...I can't imagine people flying....after seeing them drive......the future is looking up.....looking down.....that is where you stay........Golden Ruler........Will........................

Obviously, Iraq, Mexico, or damned near anywhere U.S. citizens aren't is more important to our government. The six to eight hundred billions (depending on whom you believe) being spent on Iraq would repair a hell of a lot of bridges.

the mothman prophecy man......

Sounds like an opportunity for job creation! Hoover Dam ring a bell to anyone?

Yup. We may not be able to drive safely anywhere, but we do have a ridiculously huge military.

You gotta have priorities...wait a minute...Doh!

Imagine what would be possible if the 140 billion needed was just put into solar or hydrogen powered TRAIN SYSTEMS that went through every state in the US?

Why not do that and close all the airports?

Traffic would be a little lighter too I'd assume...

So true Elligirl!

Too often elected officals look at the price tag for infrastructure improvements and it never seems to dawn on them that it would employee a helluva lot of people to make those repairs.

And it would also require a helluva lot of materials!

Steel. Concrete. Iron.

The demand for those materials would shoot up and more people would be hired at steel plants and the like to meet the new demand.

The positive ripple effect that would created in the economy would be awesome.

Steel workers, masons, laborers, welders and on and on and on.

Now you'd think that the "Get To Work And Quit Yer Bitch'in!" Conservatives would love this idea -- instead they have embraced a different kind of "stimulous" idea:

Give everyone free money and hope they waste it at the mall.

Talk about saying one thing and doing another!

They bitch about so-called welfare bums and people "wasting" their money on frivilous items and then without missing a beat hand every a free government payment and tell them to go buy iPods to "fix" the economy.

But when it comes to creating real jobs like those that would be needed to repair our aging infrastructure....they're nowhere to be seen.

So I'm right to be scared of driving over bridges then? Well, I would be if I visted the US mor often, at least...

Seriously, bridges are scary Mary. That 'trip trap trip trap' goats and trolls story *shudder* wasn't invented for nothing, you know. It was invented to pin small children to their beds with fear at night, and to pin slightly larger adults to their car seats as they cross bridges once they're actually grown-ups. It was all an elaborate warning to road safety agencies to maintain their asphalt. Watch out for them trolls, people...

My pop use to be an engineer. Every time we pass a bridge he tells me the stats on that bridge which includes the bridge’s "expiration date". He is half joking. Some of the infrastructure holding our cities and towns together were never suppose to last as long as they have without constantly tweaking and updating which does not always get done. SCARY!

Yes dedemetal - my son-in-law is a bridge engineer and the lack of funding and concern for constant repairs on our older structures gives him nightmares.

We need a massive nationwide project to rejuvenate our crumbling Interstate Highway System and put people back to work!

Oh lovely...I am absolutely terrified of bridges as it is. This article solidifies my phobia.

Being scared and informed might just be what America needs... Being complacent only makes you part of the problem. SPEAK UP! Write letter, urge congress/the senate to spend money on things that matter and stopp approving spending that goes into the pockets of the filthy greedy rich (war bills do that via Haliburton/KBR/Blackwater/etc etc)!

yeah, we need this and we need that..... on and on and on.... replace this with that and that with this....

look, if a bridge has a lifetime and an organization, state or federal owns it, why the hell does it seem to take more brainpower than any of the bureaucrats have to figure out that you have to budget some money for repairs and budget a lot more for replacement and everything that goes along with repair AND replacement AND determine who's going to pay for it, and GET THEM to PAY for it.

nobody wants taxes. nobody wants higher taxes. everybody wants bridges and highways.

if that's not a good definition of "whiner," what is?

if you want something, you've got to pay for it. if you don't want to pay for it, you've got to do without it or steal the money from someone else.

brain surgery type of complicated for some people; basic economics for others.

your call...

ps... same for bridges, tunnels, highways, buildings, water and power and fuel infrastructures....

remember the oil rigs damaged after Katrina? Billion dollars to build and install. who pays for their repair or replacement? there is only ONE source: the customers.

ANY other named source is a lie or a wish, and the energy-fairy only delivers to customers who pay for energy.

likewise all of the renewable energy sources you want today but are unwilling to pay for today without ripping profits from any convenient source [like successful companies delivering products to their customers].

you're looking to get things for free, and so long as you do, you won't.

but for some it takes a lifetime or more to learn THAT basic Eco 101 lesson.

party hearty til then!

Bridges (even if they last 50 years), transportation systems, and other areas of America's infrastructure SHOULD already be a part of existing budgets... basic planning 101. Blaming the War in Iraq is not very logical because that was money spent over and above what was in any existing budget at the time. In other words, that war money would have never gone to the bridges in the first place.

It's obvious we need better planning. If infrastructure planning was great and funding was the issue then we need better planning for that as well.

Where do we get the money then? More taxes is not a good solution, we already pay waaaaay too much in taxes. Think about this possible solution: elect officials that are better at planning and have a much better sense of priorities.

It's our own fault for electing them. Stop thinking there are only two parties to choose from and vote based on principles.

Register and vote for change. There is a chance that we can take this country back with President Obama and a Democratic majority in the House and Senate.

I hate bridges. i have always feared them and have had reacurring nightmares about then since I was a child..so its a scare to know this. But at the same time its good to know .. thanks for poating this..

Bridges and New Orleans...both need to be repaired and yet where are our priorities?

Days like these make me sad. Well, there are worse words than that, but, the need for a thesaurus is minimal. Just a few days ago, we (in Minnesota, and around the country, I hope) remembered the victims of the 35W bridge collapse. It's weird, because I was sitting there, listening to the radio, annoyed by the fact that I wasn't dancing to some tunes, but instead, the radio had gone silent. I was confused, where'd the music go. I looked at the outlet, checking the cord, when swiftly, it hit me. I had happened a glance at the calendar, and realized it'd been a year.
So bizarre, a year had passed. So much had changed. And then I see this.
No, I guess. Not much has changed.

This is the biggest reason why im voting third party we need to rebuild our country and quit rebuilding everywhere else