(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
The wealthy, failed wall street capitalism, need these fixes as much or more then the rest of us in the masses, just to maintain that hoarded wealth, as they certainly aren’t paying for now, neither here nor overseas as they hide that capital all over!
This while little investment from the street as well as the wealthy is coming in to build the needed green economy and as the residential, commercial and industrial construction industry sits idled, from laborers to tradesman, like myself, right on up that ladder and into the office personal and professions!
It’ll cost many times over the longer we wait and do little or nothing and that’s been way to long already, way too long!
And this report I just caught is just about California number 18th worst on the list of fifty. The report should be a sobering experience to read, especially for the many states already cutting road repair and more from their budgets and won’t raise taxes, except probably by those wealthy execs who fly over everything in their tax writeoff corporate jets and crews.
San Francisco’s Lefty O’Doul Bridge, built in 1933, needs more structural upgrades
March 25, 2011 – Out of 50 states and the District of Columbia, California ranks 18th worst nationally in terms of the overall condition of the state’s bridges, according to a new report issued by Transportation for America, Washington, D.C., a national transportation reform coalition.
Within the state, San Francisco County leads the way with 40 structurally deficient bridges out of 116, or 34.5%, followed by Madera County with 74 of 229 or 32.3%.
According to the report: “Today, one out of every eight bridges that motorists in California cross each day are likely to be deteriorating to some degree; and 12.8% of bridges statewide are rated ‘structurally deficient’ according to government standards, compared to 11.5% nationwide.”
The report says that most bridges are designed to last roughly 50 years. The average age of bridges in the U.S. is 42 years old. California’s average is 44.4 years old. More than 8,300 California bridges are now 50 years old or older. By 2030, that number could more than double to over 19,000 without substantial bridge replacement, according to the report.
“California would need $323 from each licensed driver to address all the bridge needs identified in 2009,” the report says. {continued}
March 28, 2011 – A report being released Wednesday by T4 America chronicles the state of our nation’s bridges, with accompanying data and reports for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Our country is facing a backlog of deficient bridges that need repairs and maintenance to stay open and safe, with needs far greater than what we’re currently spending.
If you’ve been paying attention to stories about our infrastructure at any time in the last few years, it won’t come as a surprise to you that our transportation infrastructure isn’t in the best shape. Every year, headlines are made when the American Society of Civil Engineers rates our roads or bridges with grades that we’d ground our children for bringing home on their report cards. Most of the year, though, transportation infrastructure isn’t at the forefront of our minds, even though we depend on it every day. {continued}
Might want to save the above url and visit tomorrow to take a gander at the whole report or just where your state stands.