Don Foreman wrote in article
...
On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:15:19 -0500, F. George McDuffee
wrote:

On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:33:25 -0700, Too_Many_Tools
wrote:

FYI...one of the better discussions on the I35W bridge.

Note that so far it is still just guess work.

TMT


Metal plates examined in bridge collapse By MARTIGA LOHN, Associated
Press Writer

snip
===================
It appears to be due to the design criteria.

The Romans built bridges and roads, some of which are still in
use today so it can be done.

When things are designed to be a cheap/light as possible and be
as quick to erect as possible, it means they have minimal safety
factors and little or no redundancy. As is now well known,
little to no maintenance is performed until the structure is
about to fall down because of diversion of the tax funds to other
uses.

This is a sure recipe for disaster, because any deterioration and
corrosion will reduce the already minimal safety factors to
critical levels.

Roman bridges were commissioned by the Emperor and built with slave
labor. Cost was not an issue, nor was political expediency.

Today:

inspector: "That bridge has some serious issues."
bureaucrat: "Do you assert that the bridge will fail this fiscal
year if we don't fund repairs right now?"
inspector: "No, I can't say that with certainty."
bureaucrat: "Inspect it again next year. Repair isn't in the budget."
inspector: "Get more budget. That bridge has serious issues."
bureaucrat: "You wanna get paid to inspect next year or not?"
Governor: "I ain't raisin' taxes (except for what I want.)

Not long ago, the people of Minnesota voted down a referendum for
funding maintenance and refurbishment of our aging transportation
infrastructure. In addition, schools are hurting and libraries are
being closed -- but they talk about building a new sports stadium.

Meanshile, poor people and laggards come from all over the country to
MN because our welfare is so good. They don' need no steenkin' bridge
to get their checks.



If fewer fuel tax dollars went into pork barrels, and more went towards
their stated/intended purpose - road maintenance - we wouldn't have these
issues.......

Politics!!!!!!