Bridge Collapses

[kallistii]

It seems to me that here in North America, many bridges are not being inspected, maintained, repaired or replaced often enough. Just within the last year, we have seen the Concorde overpass in Montreal collapse, and yesterday, the bridge in Minneapolis. We know that many parts of our infrastructure here in North America have been neglected, because it just works. Unfortunately, like problems with passenger aviation, until it starts to cost money and lives, nothing is done to fix known problems. According to reports on CNN, it seems that a local paper in Minneapolis already reported in a feature that the bridge was very deficient in it's design and repair, and was in the process of being worked on when it failed.

We see similar things with the Montreal Collapse...

It's time to wake up and realize that we need to spend more money on our infrastructure...and that the lowest cost bid is not always the best bid.

ttyl

Comments

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

The Minneapolis bridge was inspected annually.

[kallisti.livejournal.com]

Yes, but they had only had started doing work, but they had known for years that it had problems. The Concorde Overpass bridge in Montreal had been inspected *THE MORNING THAT IT FELL*, that doesn't mean that an inspection will catch it...it depends on what they are inspecting for.

Suburban Curse

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

Sooner or later, the money required to keep the infrastructure safe and operational will exceed the budget available. That's the curse of sprawl ... and it will not end till we scrap the suburbs and all the infrastructure that they demand. Period.