I-35W Bridge Collapse Photos

These are pretty amazing and tragic to look at.  I hope Seattle gets going on replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct that I travel on every day to work...

Collapse

By some estimates, it would only take about 9 billion dollars a year for 20 years to clear the backlog across the country of our crumbling infrastructure.  It took lots of Federal monies to build it; it's going to take Federal money to fix it.  Instead, we're spending close to a Trillion dollars on the Iraq war.  Politicians:  look around you.  The enemy is you for not funding the proper priorities.  It's us for not demanding it and holding you accountable.

I've also heard about some deficiencies in the procedures followed for reviewing bridge safety that need to be fixed.  Typically, bridges are reviewed on a 2 year cycle and estimates are made about their longevity and safety for 5-10 years into the future.  However, given that it may take at least 5-10 years to get a repair/replacement project passed, funded, and completed, it may be too late even then.

If you are interested in how things like this can happen, check out Why Buildings Fall Down:  How Structures Fall