Do you want to know how the bridges STAND or NOT in you state?

[Oracle of Delphi]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20093413/

[Drew Dowdell]

Knowing what I already know about the infrastructure in Pennsylvania, I'd rather not know

[mustang84]

Man, Iowa has more bridges than California, New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan, and nearly as many as Illinois even though we have a fraction of the population (3.6 million). No wonder they close them down...we don't have enough taxpayers to keep them all in operation. Most of them that you find closed are the rural ones on gravel and dirt roads that were built during the family farming era. Now that many farms are corporate and people are moving into the cities, some of these roads and bridges don't see action anymore.

[Cory Wolfe]

I already know PA's going to be up in the top 3 without clicking.

[Robert Hall]

Surprising that Iowa has so many bridges...lots of rivers? I remember crossing the Mississippi when I drove I80 across Iowa, but that's all I noticed..

[mustang84]

Surprising that Iowa has so many bridges...lots of rivers? I remember crossing the Mississippi when I drove I80 across Iowa, but that's all I noticed..

Yeah, probably. We're sandwiched between the Missouri and Mississippi, then you've got other major ones like the Des Moines, Raccoon, Boyer, Iowa, Cedar, etc. But since Iowa's roads follow a pretty strict mile grid pattern, they built bridges over every single river crossing....even on roads today that are nothing but dirt farm lanes. If you figure that an average county is about 30 miles tall, that would mean that river would be crossed approx. 30 times just in that one county. Add in all the tributaries and creeks and it increases very quickly.

Check out this image from the Flood of '93 to see how many bridges a chunk of downtown Des Moines has alone.

There's 12 shown in this image...today it's 14.

Edited August 3, 2007 by mustang84

[AxelTheRed]

25%-40%.

With Michigan's economy, I'm surprised its not worse. I'm sure it'll get there though.

[GMTruckGuy74]

In New Jersey, the #1 bridge deemed most deficient AND important to the state's economy is the Pulaski Skyway Bridge (US 1 and US 9):

It connects Newark & Jersey City, and was featured on a MSNBC show last night regarding the Minnesota bridge collapse. If you look at the concrete in the picture posted above, you can see the damage. When they filmed on the bridge, there were chunks of metal rusted away. This bridge was constructed between 1930 and 1932, and has been in operation ever since opening day.

On some of the Philadelphia news stations tonight, they featured various bridges, including some of Interstate 95 through Philly, that are in dire need of repair or replacement.

Scary to think how many people drive over these elevated roadways and bridges everyday, not knowing how they are putting their life in harms way.

[AxelTheRed]

The bridge collapsing was a terrible thing, but just the fact that it even happened is going to make everything so much worse. We are such a panic-prone society, thousands of people are now going to freak out and never want to use the highways again. Some of the incredibly panicked will probably look at that site and f@#king move. Sad but true.

[XP715]

Massachusetts is #1; hard to believe.

[Drew Dowdell]

Pittsburgh is the number 2 city in the world for most bridge..... right after Venice.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Massachusetts is #1; hard to believe.

No DC is worse than MA.

[CARBIZ]

This is going to be an epidemic all over North America. A major bridge collapsed on a freeway in the outskirts of Montreal last year. Shoddy workmanship, poor design and the elements were blamed.

I remember when Simcoe County suddenly closed a bridge over the Nottawasaga River about 13 years ago and for about 18 months we had to use a temporary bridge they built off to the side while they tore down and rebuilt the original bridge. Considering not alot of traffic used that highway (connecting Barrie, Ontario with medium towns like Collingwood and Wasaga Beach), it was kind of surprising that the bridge was suddenly closed.

Of greater significance, is the Gardiner Expressway, downtown Toronto's major east-west artery. The city wants to tear it down, but politics won't let them, so they are clearly starving it of repairs until there will be no choice but to tear it down. The asphalt is terrible. All the other major highways are being upgraded, but this elevated expressway (which should never have been built in the first place - HELLO, northern climate, salt and sub zero temperatures!) is just rotting while the city dithers.

Knowing what I know about the graft and corruption in the construction industry (my step-father used to work for a major cement supplier in Brampton), I think we are reaching the tip of the ice berg. In our quest for to build faster and cheaper (China, anyone?), we are going to be dearly paying for our over sights in the past.

Anyone who has ever had any professional work done around their house knows that the cheapest quote is not usually the way to go. A lot of roadwork is done by unionized or union approved contractors, and - well, I'll say nothing more about that.

[PurdueGuy]

It's all a conspiracy by the airlines...

[Oracle of Delphi]

Let some US Senator or Congressman fall into a river and watch how fast all the bridges get fixed!

[CARBIZ]

Let some US Senator or Congressman fall into a river and watch how fast all the bridges get fixed!

Can we arrange for a bus-load of them?

That reminds me of the old Canuck joke:

A plane with Joe Clark (then Prime Minister), Pierre Trudeau (then leader of the Opposition) and Rene Leveque (leader of Quebec and trying to break up the country) crashes into the ocean. Who is saved?

Punchline: Canada.

Insert your 'favorite' Senator, Congressman, President - it's all good.

[regfootball]

The bridge collapsing was a terrible thing, but just the fact that it even happened is going to make everything so much worse. We are such a panic-prone society, thousands of people are now going to freak out and never want to use the highways again. Some of the incredibly panicked will probably look at that site and f@#king move. Sad but true.

i guess they can walk then.

MN has a very low percentage, but one that fell.

[76ChevyTrucker]

Alabama isn't too horrible. Now don't talk about the condition of our Interstate systems running through the state....(for any of you that already know what I'm talking about), the bridges are the least of our concerns here.

[DetroitNut90]

How nice...the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and just about every bridge in DC are deemed deficient.

Edited August 4, 2007 by DetroitNut90