Our infrastructure is deteriorating

The bridge collapse in Minneapolis was just one of a few recent examples where our inability to invest in our homeland backfired.  The Christian Science Monitor cited three other cases:

"One of America's great assets is its  infrastructure, but if you don't invest it deteriorates," says Patrick Natale, executive director of ASCE.       

Among scores of recent examples:

•Last month, a 100-year-old steam pipe erupted in midtown Manhattan, killing one man and causing millions of dollars in lost business.

•The inadequacies of levees in New Orleans became horrifyingly clear in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. The city is still recovering.      

•In 2003, the Silver Lake Dam in Michigan failed, causing $100 million in damage.

In 2005, authorities listed the Minneapolis bridge as structurally deficient.  So many bridges around the United States have a lifespan of about 40 years.  Currently, 75,611 bridges all across the country, many built in the 1950s, are structurally deficient.  One in ten US bridges are in poor condition.

Are we going to do something about it, or are we going to continue spending $12 billion each week in Iraq?

Comments

[George]

THE LATTER!

The sad thing about this country is that our politics are too divided to do the right thing and to make real progress. And now we're thinking about electing Hillary Clinton?! That's more division. We have a problem.