[Rhodes22-list] Political - Slim Bridges

[Steven Alm]

Brad,

Yes, there HAS to be political hay.  Bridges cost money and how much is
determined by the politicians.  The I35W bridge was built in the sixties
with sixties standards and there was no built-in redundancy which is code
today.  It's possible that no mistakes were made.  The bridge was inspected
annually and recommendations were made to improve it, but weight, lane
closers, resurfacing, etc. are all routine.  One theory is that is was
pigeon droppings, which are very corrosive to metal, in the box beams.
Could be.  Others say it's a "perfect storm" of several factors.  But no
matter what they find,
Gov. Pawlenty has done a complete about-face on his "No new taxes"
campaign.  Yeah, I know we're taxed to death here in MN and we've seen taxes
for a new ball park for the Twins, the arts, libraries and so on but I want
all those things too!  I'll gladly pay a couple more cents per gallon of gas
if I can be assured this won't happen again.  We pay high taxes here and
this a a great place to live!  Let's keep it great.

Slim

On 8/9/07, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Slim,
>
> It took the Strib less than twelve hours to take a tragedy and try to make
> some 'political hay' out of the event.  The last frigging thing Minnesota
> residents need is more taxes, for bridges or anything else.  I said I'd
> get
> back to you on this issue and now I am.  My brother left me a voice mail
> within minutes of the I35 bridge collapse.  I'll paraphrase as closely as
> I
> can remember.
>
> "Bradley, remember the performance payments we talked about?  Here's where
> it bites you in the ass.  I'll bet you a hundred bucks they got too
> aggressive in removing surface, used too much vibration, and got the
> bridge
> unbalanced by diverting all the traffic to one side without considering
> the
> original engineering limits".
>
> I'm betting on my brother.
>
> Brad
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