Just As I Thought

It works for elevators

I’ve come up with a fool-proof piece of legislation to will ensure that all deficient bridges get the attention they need. It’s incredibly simple and will cost almost nothing.
When a bridge is inspected, a sign must be posted at each end clearly displaying the rating of that bridge.
That’s it. That’s the whole law.
Because when you drive up to a bridge and it has a big sign saying “Structurally Deficient,” wouldn’t you turn right around and lobby the government to fix it right away?

2 comments

  • As some engineer on the radio said, “deficient” doesn’t mean in danger of imminent collapse. It’s more like the TSA’s Orange Alert: it’s not safe, but it’s not not safe. It sounds like they would need some new terminology in the bridge inspection business. Then again, we could gold plate all our nation’s deficient bridges with what we spend in Iraq every month. 🙁

  • Yeah the terminology is way too vague. And you have to get to where you have to get to.

    Just today I rolled over the 395N bridge into DC with all its bumps and ridges to teach my spin class (and there was work being done on the adjacent Metro bridge). Was I going to take the Key Bridge and go through all that traffic? No. I’d take my chances.

    Plus, I seem to remember visiting my old friend Dave’s home state of Conn. many years ago, and they had legally declared all the state highways closed, or some such BS. They were open for traffic, but they washed their hands of liability (and having to repair them) by declaring them closed. I can see that happening all over.

    Bush refusing to repair our infrastructure funded with a gas tax is just his ongoing kissup to co-prez Cheney and the oil companies.

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