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Nearly 56,000 Bridges Called Structurally Deficient (usatoday.com)
schwit1 quotes a report from USA Today: Nearly 56,000 bridges nationwide, which vehicles cross 185 million times a day, are structurally deficient, a bridge construction group announced Wednesday. The list is based on Transportation Department data. The department scores bridges on a nine-point scale, and while the deficient ones might not be imminently unsafe, they are classified in need of attention. More than one in four bridges (173,919) are at least 50 years old and have never had major reconstruction work, according to the ARTBA analysis. State transportation officials have identified 13,000 bridges along interstates that need replacement, widening or major reconstruction, according to the group. "America's highway network is woefully underperforming," said Alison Premo Black, the group's chief economics who conducted the analysis. "It is outdated, overused, underfunded and in desperate need of modernization." The five states with the most deficient bridges are Iowa with 4,968, Pennsylvania with 4,506, Oklahoma with 3,460, Missouri with 3,195 and Nebraska with 2,361. The eight states where at least 15% of the bridges are deficient are: Rhode Island at 25%, Pennsylvania at 21%, Iowa and South Dakota at 20%, West Virginia at 17%, and Nebraska, North Dakota and Oklahoma at 15%.
Finally a list of items ranked by state in which Alabama and Mississippi aren't the worst.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have backups to corrupt.
bridges that need to be widened to handle additional traffic are not "structurally deficient"
Just because a bridge is old doesn't mean it's unsafe. In Europe, a 50 year old bridge is likely to be called "the new bridge" and have people griping that it's not as good/pretty/whatever as the "old" bridge
how many of the other bridges are just fine as is, but could stand to be upgraded for various reasons other than that they are deteriorating?
once you start lying about things, how can we trust anything that you say?
David Lang
The most surprising thing about this story for me is that Iowa needs 5,000 bridges.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
In other news, 90% of the time I take my automobile to a mechanic or my body to a physician, it turns out I need some work done.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
I partially blame the Environmental groups involved, because of previous hyperbole used in previous reports. That being said (and being a nearby resident), I can assure you that most of the issue was due to the FAILED Primary Spillway not being maintained. The topover caused by the failed spillway was fully preventable, had the DWR and ACE and the rest done their job the last 7 years.
But, instead, we have more infrastructure projects proceeding even though we can't maintain what we got. After all, we need a High Speed Rail Train between Fresno and Bakersfield ASAP!!!!
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
was on one of my evaluation reports. i think.
The five states with the most deficient bridges are Iowa with 4,968, Pennsylvania with 4,506, Oklahoma with 3,460, Missouri with 3,195 and Nebraska with 2,361....
Finding a new funding stream for road and bridge construction is a priority for state and federal officials because the gas tax that primarily funds the highway trust fund hasn’t kept pace with construction priorities as cars become more efficient.
Efficient cars aren't the problem. The problem is that legislatures can't keep their grubby hands off that money. Pennsylvania is second on the list, yet it has the highest fuel tax rate in the country, How can that be? Because about half the money is diverted away from road and bridge construction to projects like mass transportation and funding the state police.
Funny thing too, because I remember how Obama's stimulus plan was supposed to go towards this sort of issues. Although where I lived the money my town got for it was all spent on replacing the fully functional street lamps with new ones that looked nicer and a bike land literally no one has ever used due to being in rural Mississippi.
Trump has shown he doesn't give a damn about Americans. He withheld federal money to pay for the dam that the state of CA build and maintained.
Seriously? He's been in office less than a month.
"Structurally Deficient" has legal and engineering meaning (which may vary by state) and does not necessarily mean a bridge is unsafe. Quite often, it means that the bridge must have a sign in front of it stating a maximum gross vehicle weight.
Also, what qualifies as a bridge subject to government attention? Do you have a 20 foot concrete culvert passing under the road? That's a bridge, and the government (correctly) pays attention to it. But it isn't necessarily a big deal.
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I partially blame the Environmental groups involved, because of previous hyperbole used in previous reports. That being said (and being a nearby resident), I can assure you that most of the issue was due to the FAILED Primary Spillway not being maintained. The topover caused by the failed spillway was fully preventable, had the DWR and ACE and the rest done their job the last 7 years.
But, instead, we have more infrastructure projects proceeding even though we can't maintain what we got. After all, we need a High Speed Rail Train between Fresno and Bakersfield ASAP!!!!
Blame this on the environmentalists all you want but the Obama admin. tried to get infrastructure reform done for 8 years and the GOP blocked it for no purpose other than spite and a Machiavellian effort to further the interests of the GOP and make Obama look bad. If anybody is to blame for this it is Mitch McConnell and his predecessors. http://www.dailykos.com/story/...
The erosion on the main spillway had no effect on how much water they were releasing from the reservoir. The reason the water flowed from the emergency spillway was because it rained too much, and there was poor water management while levels were rising.
because a Republican-controlled Congress was dead-set on doing nothing in order to obstruct Obama at all costs. This is, seriously, no shit, because the Republicans would be damned if they even APPEARED to be supporting a president that some still swore was not a citizen.
You got a problem with physics, architecture, materials science, civil engineering, design, graph theory, and a whole bunch of other nerdy subjects? News flash: "Technology" doesn't mean "only technical stuff that *you* happen to be interested in".
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
In 2013, 66,749 bridges were considered structurally deficient. This is a 17% decrease in the last 4 years. I think this should count as good news.
What's a bike land?
Nearly 56,000 bridges nationwide, which vehicles cross 185 million times a day, are structurally deficient, a bridge construction group announced Wednesday.
Let's see what I can do with this sort of headline.
-Nearly 56,000 projects nationwide are managed by insufficiently trained project managers, the Project Manager Institute announced Wednesday.
-Nearly 56,000 unions nationwide, which employ 36 million workers are insufficiently funded, a union advocacy group announced Wednesday.
-Nearly 56,000 XYZ nationwide, which are important for ABC reasons, need more money, said a group who's business is XYZ, and who would get most of the money if such money were allocated.
To any interested parties, the Notabadguy Institute would like to note that Notabadguy needs structural investment and more money. Perhaps some of that internet money.
In other news, to no one's surprise, BeauHD continues her unbroken record of being a shitty editor looking for partisan news to throw at the slashdot masses. Thanks for being a cuntwaffle.
Roughly.
https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/s...
They'll blame him for everything back to the start of the Clinton administration. It's gotten so silly that I just quit listening. There are zero unbiased sources of news. It's either Pro Trump or Anti Trump. He's a grade A asshole but all he's done so far is try to stop people from coming in from 7 countries and build a Cabinet. Since he's done next to nothing they'll just use whatever is at hand to stick him with.
Cali has the highest income taxes in the US, so why wasn't the funding there? Answer: pension funding. State, county, and local level are all screwed by pension obligations. Decades of pushing the problems forward by raising pensions for government workers instead of raises, because that was politically acceptable. But the pigeons have come home to roost.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Blame this on the environmentalists all you want but the Obama admin. tried to get infrastructure reform done for 8 years and the GOP blocked it for no purpose other than spite and a Machiavellian effort to further the interests of the GOP and make Obama look bad. If anybody is to blame for this it is Mitch McConnell and his predecessors. http://www.dailykos.com/story/...
Bingo.
Mitch McConnell was instrumental in blocking proposed bills that would have started addressing the aging infrastructure. Not just once, but over and over again.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Well, maybe you Mississippi politicians should have chosen to spend their stimulus funds on more useful things.
As well as sacking an acting-AG that wouldnt support him without question.
An Obama-appointed AG that was on their way out the door anyways and was playing leftist politics.
As well as taking a combative stance toward the judicial system that threw out his EO.
He criticized a ruling. Boo hoo. Kinda like when Obama embarrassed the Supreme Court judges at his State of the Union address for the Citizens United ruling? Actually, Obama's was worse:
"It is not unusual for presidents to disagree publicly with Supreme Court decisions. But they tend to do so at news conferences and in written statements, not to the justices' faces."
That's from the New York fucking Times, back before they completely went anti-Trump apeshit.
As well as positioning himself in opposition to all the mainstream media, and siding with a horrific shit of a news outlet.
Because the mainstream clearly had a bias against Trump, and became "horrific shits" themselves.
As well as dumping 90% of the experience of the National Security Council, and putting the former chairman of that shit of a news outlet onto the Principle Committee of the NSC.
A neutral and non-screechy article on the matter provides a different perspective.
As well as pissing off major foreign leaders.
Wah, wah. He's not Obama and he's not afraid to ruffle some feathers.
As well as inviting un-vetted guests, including foreign nationals, to stand over him while he reads top secret intelligence on North Korea and south east asia.
Yeah, he fucked up.
And lets not talk about his child-like attitude on Twitter...
Sounds like you're talking about it. Boo hoo, he's mean on Twitter, just like he was during the campaign.
Some other things he's done:
- Put the focus back on American jobs.
- Put a spotlight on government waste via over-priced mega projects.
- Met with foreign leaders.
- Ramped up deportation of illegal immigrants.
- Set goals for reducing regulations and their costs.
- Nominated a Supreme Court justice.
A person drinks a gallon of bacon grease a day for 40 years, then suddenly dies of a heart attack.
Here's a better analogy: Millions of people eat bacon everyday. The medical establishment claims this is a crisis and many bacon eaters are going to die within 40 years unless the medical establishment gets a lot of money to "fix" the problem. The money isn't spent, and 40 years comes and goes. Few people die, and bacon eaters aren't dying any faster than danish eaters.
Would you still insist that the "crisis" was real? Or would you maybe consider that bacon isn't as bad as you were told?
Disclaimer: I eat oatmeal for breakfast.