Why does it always take a disaster for things to change? Well, maybe not change, but for people to sit up and take notice.
The latest calamity occurred in Minnesota, just as rush hour hit its midpoint on Aug. 1. The bridge that brought Interstate 35W to and from downtown Minneapolis over the Mississippi River came apart at the seams, literally. The steel trusses gave way, plunging the center section into the river. The sections closest to the riverbanks bent at 45-degree angles hanging on to the steel tendons of rebar that run through the cement.
The cars, pickups, tractor-trailers and school bus were still scattered in various positions ”“ upright, upside down, sideways ”“ across the span 10 days after the disaster. It looked like a set for some action movie. For identification, large number-letter configurations were spray-painted on the windshields and sides of vehicles that did not fall into the river. They will not be moved until recovery operations are complete.
Nine bodies have been found; another four people are still missing.
On a nearby pedestrian bridge, American flags, strung to poles by onlookers, fluttered in the breeze. Hundreds of people walked by, talking quietly.
They came disbelieving, like when someone is told a friend is dead. You don”™t believe until you see the body.
We wonder if they worried about the durability of the bridge they stood on as they looked down at the collapsed bridge.
Hours following the collapse, that large ligament-popping sound heard ”™round the nation was the knee-jerk reaction of politicians in state capitols assuring the populace that their bridges were safe to travel across and if the state had bridges similar in structure to the I35W bridge, then immediate and thorough exams would be undertaken. But if there is a safety inspection protocol already in place, why do another inspection, why not just take a look at the bridges”™ records?
The bridge collapse also sent journalists to their computers, poring over databases checking to see if what the politicians were saying was borne out in the safety records.
Connecticut had a bridge collapse in June 1983 when the eastbound section of the I-95 span over the Mianus River fell in the middle of the night resulting in the deaths of three people.
In its report, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that “the probable cause of the collapse of the Mianus River bridge span was the undetected lateral displacement of the hangers of the pin and hanger suspension assembly in the southeast corner of the span by corrosion-induced forces due to deficiencies in the state of Connecticut”™s bridge safety inspection and bridge maintenance program.”
It rusted and no one noticed.
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In June, Gov. M. Jodi Rell ordered that all 5,354 bridges in the state be inspected at least every two years. Prior to that order, some 1,144 bridges classified as being in fair condition or better were on a four-year inspection schedule.
In order to move the state Department of Transportation”™s bridge inspection program to a two-year cycle, 561 of the 1,144 bridges were identified as needing an inspection before Sept. 30. To date, 180 of the 561 bridges requiring inspections have been completed, the state said, and the remainder will be completed by Sept. 30.
Bridges similar to the one in Minneapolis number about 10 in Connecticut, including the Commodore Hull Bridge over the Housatonic River in Shelton and the Gold Star Bridge over the Thames River between New London and Groton.
DOT Commissioner Ralph Carpenter said crews had begun inspecting those two bridges earlier this summer and bridges of that size can take two months or longer to fully inspect.
Falling bridges, steam pipe explosions and water main collapses all expose America”™s soft underbelly.
Look around at the buildings, dams, roads and bridges still standing that were built by our great-grandfathers and grandfathers during the New Deal; the Works Progress Administration.
What”™s happened today? Accountability might be part of the answer.
So what do we do? Wring our hands and worry when the next disaster falls? Stop driving across bridges? Of course not.
What we could do is start holding people accountable. If you just inspected a bridge, deemed it OK and it falls before the next inspection, shouldn”™t you be held responsible? Better yet, say your construction company built the bridge and it collapses, shouldn”™t you be held responsible? Maybe unbeknownst to you, shoddy material was supplied. Shouldn”™t the supplier or manufacturer be held responsible?
If a person is held responsible for his actions, then perhaps he will take his job more seriously.
And also to be held accountable is the American public that complains about the state of our infrastructure in one breath and then votes down bonding acts to remediate the problems.
And let”™s not forget the politics.
Candidates don”™t usually look to run on an “infrastructure” platform.
“If it”™s not sexy, they”™re not interested in backing it,” said Barry B. LePatner, author of the forthcoming book “Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets: How to Fix America”™s Trillion-Dollar Construction Industry.”
“For decades our nation has closed its eyes to reams of engineering analysis and reports that have highlighted the deteriorating nature of our infrastructure and the costs of remediation ”” costs that increase exponentially as every year passes,” he said. “Every politician has received these reports. Most push them aside for a successor to handle, or are willing to provide only a fraction of the necessary funds requested by their experts.”
Hey, politicians and politician wannabes, pay attention.
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