Bridge Collapses

Not sure if you've heard about the collapse of the motorway in minnesota. I just finished reading this article on it from Time Magazine.

"According to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, speaking Thursday afternoon at a press conference, there are no fewer 70,000 to 80,000 bridges in the U.S. in the same category; at least another 80,000 are considered "functionally obsolete," or not up to current design standards, another label that fails to testify to a structure's safety for travel.

It would be so expensive to fix hundreds of thousands of bridges, that it's just not going to happen. But these numbers highlight the problem of the nation's infrastructure. No word is likely to make taxpayers' eyes glaze over more quickly. As a result, officials at all levels of government tend to defer maintenance on bridges and roadways; the voters wouldn't stand for the required expenditures, estimated at more than $9 billion a year. They might, however, be willing to pay for more frequent and thorough inspections, which could distinguish the structurally deficient bridges in imminent danger of failure from those that aren't."

Blimey! 80,000 such bridges eh? can you imagine if our benjamin sheares bridge folded over? i mean we had the great world and nicholl highway incidents, there's no stopping our beloved sheares bridge from doing the same... and if it does collapse during the rush hours, we would probably face the same problem like they are now, fishing out survivors from the debris. i dread to think of the consequences. Let's pray for more survivors.