Minneapolis bridge collapses

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by kathykd2005

Well, unfortunately, people have to travel on those roads, so it is difficult to simply replace bridges and roads altogether. I am picturing city/state government attempting to replace roads and bridges, and people flipping out...

There's been an ongoing project near AGDee and I that has closed a stretch of I75. They've been replacing all the overpasses.... actually tearing them all down and replacing them. They did the same on our Southfield Expressway. While it is an inconvenience between taking different routes, and dealing with traffic in our neighborhoods, you really appreciate it when you see stories like this.

So it's either people flipping out, or people dying. I'd rather people flip out.

[Drolefille]

St. Louis decided that they were going to completely redo 64/40 because of its age. While I can't remembr if they decided for sure, the options were 3-4 years if they did it in pieces, and 2 years if they just shut the whole thing down. Either way traffic was going to suck, so you might as well go all out. Yeah, people are going to get upset but usually you tell them "we do this or you will die" and they go along with it. Interestingly they'd just worked on all the overpasses on 40 before announcing this. I'm willing to bet they found a few they didn't like.

Also when it comes to bridges, you're not always suck rebuilding a bridge in the same place. Hannibal, MO built a new bridge across the Mississippi some distance away from the old one. That was easier than trying to renovate the old one or completely shut down travel across the river.

[DeltAlum]

They just finished what was supposed to be a seven year project widening I-25 (the Valley Highway) from the Denver Tech Center to Downtown. They did a really good job, I think. The contract called for at least three lanes to be open each way most of the day (there were a few overnights -- like midnight to 5:00 AM when it was down to two lanes -- and a couple of short distance total closures overnight) and replaced ALL of the bridges going over the highway along with most of the on and off ramps. They also added Light Rail the entire length of the project. It was called T-Rex which might give some idea of what was expected.

They managed to finish it more than a year early, and under budget.

It's not that there weren't hassles, nor was the job without problems, but given how screwed up it could have made things, I was pretty impressed.

I think this was the same company that re-built a lot of the freeways in Salt Lake City prior to the Olympics, which I hear was a headache of gigantic proportions.

They must have learned from their mistakes.

[Tom Earp]

Because of this, K C metro area is re upping bridge inspectiions!

@ 10 have been targeted and I know them all very well. Some are really scarry!

Talked with a friend who is a KsDot engineer and project coordinater and what he tells me makes me worry even more! All of these have been patched over for years and years. All of these bridges are over either the Kansas or Missouri Rivers.

Talk about patch work on highways, I-70 and I-435 are continually being worked on for the simple reason some moron decided re-bar was not needed! A new concept! What a disaster. Re-bar helps the concrete stay more stable.

St. Louis Bridges have been in terrible shape for years. The one over the Mississippi River that carries I-70, wow does it need help!

Was it the Eads Street Bridge that was closed so many years open up yet?

States just are not putting money in to infrastructure and the Federal Govt. is running out of money for their big fund also.

Amazing that Pork barreling is still big but for some funky things. Oh, to be PC, they are called ear marks now!

[kathykd2005]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

There's been an ongoing project near AGDee and I that has closed a stretch of I75. They've been replacing all the overpasses.... actually tearing them all down and replacing them. They did the same on our Southfield Expressway. While it is an inconvenience between taking different routes, and dealing with traffic in our neighborhoods, you really appreciate it when you see stories like this.

So it's either people flipping out, or people dying. I'd rather people flip out.

I didn't say that I wanted people to die, or that I'd flip out, I just said government will have a hard time getting all of this stuff passed, since people will flip out, and make it hard to do... There wasn't really a need to give the ultimatum of people "flipping out, or people dying."

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by kathykd2005

...I just said government will have a hard time getting all of this stuff passed, since people will flip out, and make it hard to do...

Clearly and understatement.

We seem to want everything..but don't want to pay for any of it.

It just doesn't work that way.

[kathykd2005]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

Clearly and understatement.

We seem to want everything..but don't want to pay for any of it.

It just doesn't work that way.

Agreed--people do want everything and don't want to pay for it. As I said earlier--several times--I would be willing to pay higher taxes for services like repairs to highways and bridges; however, others may not feel the same way. It seems those of us posting in this thread are all coming from the same place and are on the same page.

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by kathykd2005

It seems those of us posting in this thread are all coming from the same place and are on the same page.

I wonder.

Let's take a real infomal, unscientific poll.

How many who read this thread would approve of a fairly substantial tax increase in order to replace decaying infrastructure?

I would.

[kathykd2005]

Put it up as a poll, see what happens...

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by kathykd2005

Put it up as a poll, see what happens...

Anybody know how to do that without starting a new thread? I don't.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

I wonder.

Let's take a real infomal, unscientific poll.

How many who read this thread would approve of a fairly substantial tax increase in order to replace decaying infrastructure?

I would.

I vote for us to pull the hell out of Iraq, stop spending money on this bullshit, and use that money to pay for the decaying infrastructure. I vote to worry about our own country.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

There's been an ongoing project near AGDee and I that has closed a stretch of I75. They've been replacing all the overpasses.... actually tearing them all down and replacing them. They did the same on our Southfield Expressway. While it is an inconvenience between taking different routes, and dealing with traffic in our neighborhoods, you really appreciate it when you see stories like this.

So it's either people flipping out, or people dying. I'd rather people flip out.

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

I vote for us to pull the hell out of Iraq, stop spending money on this bullshit, and use that money to pay for the decaying infrastructure. I vote to worry about our own country.

Ok, I have to admit, that construction caused me bunches of stress. So much so, that I changed my hours to reduce the amount of traffic rage that I have to deal with on a daily basis. On top of that, every week.. every single week, some semi gets in an accident in this zone and the whole freeway has to shut down for hours and hours and, in most of the cases, someone was killed. There's got to be a safer way to go about that construction! But, I decided to stop griping about the whole thing after the bridge collapse. I just think that particular construction zone, the way it was set up, should have been CLOSED TO TRUCK TRAFFIC.

I also think that we are paying for a heck of a lot of stuff that I consider less important than the basic infrastructure. I'm not opposed to some tax increases to cover this, if I were convinced that the waste was cut from the budget first. It's not as if all of it has to be replaced immediately so the $5500 per person could be stretched out over say.. 10 years. $550 a person a year isn't that much.

[OneTimeSBX]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

I vote for us to pull the hell out of Iraq, stop spending money on this bullshit, and use that money to pay for the decaying infrastructure. I vote to worry about our own country.

AMEN!!!