77,000 US bridges in need of urgent repair

After the tragedy in Minnesota, when a US bridge collapsed claiming five lives, transport specialists in the US are now saying that a further 77,000 bridges in the US share the same "structurally deficient" status as the bridge that collapsed.

Transport specialists said billions of dollars would be needed to replace the bridges, many of which were built 40 to 50 years ago and were coming to the end of their life.

The Minnesota governor, Tim Pawlenty, said: "I think anybody who looks at the national picture, the national statistics, and says that we don't have a problem would be naive ... We have a major problem."

It always astonishes me that a country like the US, who spend more on their military that any other country in the world, don't allocate a fraction of that sum to maintaining their infrastructure.

Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate, said that domestic programmes, such as replacing ageing infrastructure, had been short-changed because of the billions being spent on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Since 9/11 we have taken our eye off the ball," he said.

The Democrats had proposed spending $631m (£309m) more on federal highway safety than Mr Bush budgeted for but he had threatened to veto the proposal.

Bush "threatened to veto the proposal"? I think it's time to put that bill back on his desk. I somehow doubt he'll be threatening to "veto that proposal" now.

President George Bush, who was widely criticised for staying on holiday at his Crawford ranch in Texas after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans two years ago, is to visit the bridge site today.

Better still, put it in his hand whilst he's looking at the wreckage and dare him to issue his bloody veto.

Click title for full article.

Tags: Minnesota, bridge collapse, Bush, infrastructure, funding