The recent explosion of a steam pipe in New York City and collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis are clear warning signs of the aged and in many parts obsolete National infrastructure.
The bridge in Minneapolis was deemed "structurally deficient" in 1990 in part because of some corroded bearings, but it was not expected to be replaced until 2020.
Dan Dorgan, a state bridge engineer for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said a "deficient" designation did not mean a bridge needed to be immediately replaced. 77,000 bridges across the country, he said, have a similar designation.
Still, Dorgan said: "We thought we had done all we could. Obviously something went terribly wrong." That is so true! - something did go terribly wrong, and I know precisely what!
A 2003 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers called 27 percent of American bridges “structurally deficient" or functionally obsolete. Three years later(!) a 2006 Federal Highway Administration study placed the label "structurally deficient" on nearly 74,000 bridges across the country, or 12.3 percent.
12.3 percent or 27 percent? This is a great difference! How many “structurally deficient" or functionally obsolete bridges are in America, after all? 74,000? 77,000? 170,000? Or may be even more? No one seems really to know.
The road infrastructure historically is not a part of the private sector of the National Economy. The full responsibility for solving problem with bridges is on the shoulders of the so called "public sector" that is entirely in hands of local, state, and Federal bureaucrats.
Well... 100,000 bridges more, 100,0000 bridges fewer. There is no a big difference for bureaucrats from Federal Highway Administration. Needless to say, that the “structural deficiency" was a life or death matter for all those who were crossing the collapsed bridge in Minneapolis.
The deteriorating National road infrastructure must be taken very seriously. However, the scale of necessary works that ought to be done and financial burden required to fix the problem greatly exceed a realistic ability of the U.S. Bureaucracies to handle it. In other words, one can see another example of a total incompetence of the U.S. Bureaucracies in matters of National emergency.
There is no currently a sound National Project that can coordinate this grand endeavor of fixing bridges. Moreover, there is no a sufficient trained Labor Force that can accomplish a task of this magnitude within an observing time frame. Besides, I have a reasonable doubt that bureaucrats can ever come up with something that could work.
This is with no doubt a big national problem, but this is the problem of just bridges in America. Now, imagine the United States are attacked by terrorists with Weapons of Mass Destruction, and all the emergency services are provided by the same bureaucrats that cannot take care even of the U.S. bridges. God forbid!
This is the time to fundamentally rethink the role of U.S. Bureaucracies in life if the American people. And the soonner, the better. The Nation needs new creative Instruments and Forces to meet unprecedented challenges of future National emergencies. This is the time to rethink the role of U.S. Bureaucracies in life of the Nation and learn
Why U.S. need All-National Civilian Self-Defense.
