Friday, August 3, 2007

Troubled Bridges Over Michigan Waters?

Yet another reason not to wasting billions of dollars in Iraq every month.

The Livingston Press & Argus noted in an article published Friday (Aug. 3, 2007) that between a quarter and a third of bridges in Livingston County have structural or functional deficiencies. The article does not spell out the difference or note how many are serious. Does a functional deficiency mean traffic justifies a four-lane bridge, but the existing bridge is only two lanes? That's far different from a bridge that's in danger of collapsing, but the article has no explanation of the difference and it's hard to be sure what it means.

As far as bridges on the state road system (as opposed to local roads) Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration has significantly increased spending on bridge repairs. According to the state's five-year transportation plan, the state will spend $1.3 billion on road and bridge improvements each year, up from just $890 million in 1997 under Republican John Engler, who never met a state program he didn't want to strangle for funds.

Of the $6.37 billion the state will spend over the next five years on roads and bridges, about $3.9 billion comes from the federal government.

Imagine how many people Michigan could put to work on roads and bridges with some of those billions from Iraq.

1 comment:

Kathy said...

Imagine how many people Michigan could put to work on roads and bridges with some of those billions from Iraq.

Good point, and imagine how many people the entire country could put to work with some of those billions from Iraq.