7,980 Questionable Bridges in the USA - Any of them near you?

[tbvvw]

I'm not going to say that there's not a good amount of stupidity going around in the way that projects get constructed in some cases, but I never understand why people think that anybody is building things to intentionally fail in three years or whatever. I see a lot of people saying this is intentional to "justify budgets" or "make more work for themselves." We are SO far behind in this country in maintaining out aging infrastructure and making badly needed extensions, widening, improvements, etc that we have no need whatsoever to make even more work.

Sometimes crappy projects get built, but it's not because anybody in the process wanted that. No, it's just a combination of incompetence and the natural result of a lowest bidder system.

We also don't like to budget for a long-term solution, esp for infrastructure. No local or state politicians like to convince their constituents to pay (ex.) $100M for a 50 yr solution when $25M gets you a 10 yr solution. They won't be re-elected otherwise. After Katrina/NO...I saw an article where Dutch engineers said that situation would have been impossible in the Netherlands because they invested and engineered a 150 yr levee solution, calling the US version a low-cost, short term "patch and pray" system. I travel to Germany often and nobody there can believe we build (and re-build) wood-framed homes in hurricane zones, regardless of cost. Pay now or pay more later....

[uncleho]

The amount that would be scaled back would be insignificant compared to the amount of money needed to continually (what people miss) fix out infrastructure.

What is the bill for "fixing" the infrastructure? It really depends on everybody's definition and where you draw the line in terms of what needs "fixing", right?

But you're likely right (i.e. The bill would be large, but not so much due to the quantity (although that doesn't help), but rather the expectations of the grade/quality of work... and that labor cost.).

I think the point on the military budget helping is valid, though. Will it help "kill the issue"? No, but it would definitely help. Along with balancing budgets around based on what the society deems is priority, no? There is no one budget transfer that will do it.

But then... the issue is not only about pulling from other budgets, but also making sure the work is as efficient as possible. And honestly... the expectations aren't so sky high that it makes the cost beyond what any budget could aid. The ugly reality is our expectations in a mature, wealthy society like our's means the cost of infrastructure and their upkeep is a lot higher than elsewhere. That doesn't help, but most people don't even consider that reality.

Your prior comment about 'too many bridges' to deal with is true, but isn't it more an issue of not enough taxes to support it?

We have an infrastructure that was not designed for the capacity of people who use it, but between the premium to maintain/replace it and the continued burden of more and more users... not to mention inflation/unchanged taxes relative to the premium... we cannot keep up.

The term generally used as it relates to issues like this is OVERSHOOT.

[EdRacer71]

If only there was some superhuge government program that we could scale way back and use the money for infrastructure............

Or something that has a tax exemption that we could tax that seems to have no problem building big new buildings...

[Chmeeee]

Indeed



The amount that would be scaled back would be insignificant compared to the amount of money needed to continually (what people miss) fix out infrastructure.

Federal funding for transportation is in the vicinity of $50B per year. If Wikipedia is to be believed, than federal spending for military is between $1.0T and $1.4T. AKA they could triple transportation funding with a 10% cut in military spending.

[maskedSONY]

YA i heard they are going to be like $14.00 both ways? Crazy.

If they put the rapid transit options on there the tolls will be $30.

[Air and water do mix]

Federal funding for transportation is in the vicinity of $50B per year. If Wikipedia is to be believed, than federal spending for military is between $1.0T and $1.4T. AKA they could triple transportation funding with a 10% cut in military spending.

As it stands right now, the military is about to be gutted. If the mandatory (from that "deal" last year) cuts are quashed, then there may be options here, but not right now.

[VadGTI]

Interesting, he does not list the 6th Street Bridge in Downtown LA, with which every one of you is familiar. Apparently, when it was built in 1932, the local organized crime racket led to the use of bad concrete with alkali in it. The bridge is slated for destruction and an ugly replacement in 2015 .

During the construction of the viaduct, an on-site plant was used to supply the concrete for construction. However, the quality of the concrete turned out to have a high alkali content and lead to an alkali-silica reaction which creates cracks in the concrete and saps the strength of the structure.
Estimates are that the viaduct has a 70% probability of collapse due to a major earthquake within 50 years.[2]

Blade:


Some music video:


Flash Forward:


Dark Knight:




Southland:


Grease:


And about a billion other shows. Pretty important LA landmark, wish it could be saved .

Proposed replacement:

[vdub10golf]

Only one anyone near my area, and it a little bridge that crosses a small creek.

[FourPointOh]

I drive on every single one in Boston on a given week. I cannot imagine the kind of traffic rebuilding them would cause. The map shows about 6-7 within Boston alone, plus many more just outside the city.

[rexxmann]

Route 130 & Raccoon Creek

Last Updated by tadmor on Jul 25



Built: 1940
National Bridge ID 817151
5,910 cars per day (avg.)

11287

Gloucester County, NJ



It's a pretty gnarly looking lift bridge. If you hit 120 before hitting the bridge, if it falls while you are crossing it, your momentum will probably get you the rest of the way (or else you'll plant your car 10 feet deep in the mud on the opposite side).