BCT Editorial – 4/6/06

This page was last updated on April 6, 2006.

Cutting corners; Editorial; Beaver County Times; April 6, 2006.

Both of today’s editorials are retreads of previous editorials. So I don’t commit the same error, please go to my critiques of the editorials entitled “Woe are we” and “Falling down.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“The United States can’t continue to ignore its transportation needs

“Washington, D.C., has its cherry blossoms. Pennsylvania has its orange barrels.

“They blossom every spring and are a sign of things to come - warmer weather and road construction.

“As inconvenient as it is for drivers, sitting in traffic isn’t just a pain. With gasoline prices as high as they are, it’s also expensive. Still, the road and bridge repairs are welcome because the work is so obviously needed.

“But what is really startling is the gap between the work that is being done and the work that needs to be done on our national and state infrastructure, and the unwillingness of elected and appointed officials and the public to face up to the huge costs that are looming.

“The American Society of Civil Engineers’ Report Card 2005 estimated that there was ‘an investment need of $1.6 trillion over a five-year period from all levels of government and the private sector’ to address that nation’s infrastructure needs.

“ASCE gave the nation’s bridges a ‘C.’ It reported that 27.1 percent of the bridges in the United States were structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, and that it would cost $9.4 billion a year for 20 years to eliminate all bridge deficiencies.

“Roads in the United States got a ‘D.’ ASCE estimated America is spending only about two-thirds of the money it should be doing annually to improve conditions nationally.

“As local drivers are well aware, Pennsylvania isn’t immune to these problems. ASCE reported 46 percent of the state’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition and that 42 percent of its bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. PennDOT had a $2.3 billion maintenance backlog for roads and an $8 billion maintenance backlog for bridge, ASCE reported.

“The Rendell administration is attempting to cut into that backlog. PennDOT reported earlier this year that spending on bridges climbed 35 percent between 2003 and 2005, rising from $317 million to $427 million. The number of bridges seeing improvements more than doubled, from 311 to 666.

“PennDOT reports it has spent $1.3 billion a year for the last seven years on highway and bridge projects. The problem is that this is really on a drop in the bucket compared to the overall maintenance needs of the state’s roads and bridges.

“A look at two high-profile projects that are being done this year shows how expensive this work can be. Five miles of the Beaver Valley Expressway between the Center and Hopewell interchanges will be redone at a cost of $7.4 million. Meanwhile, rehabilitating the Green Garden Road Bridge and realigning the Green Garden Road intersection with Service Creek Road in Hopewell Township is going to cost $4.1 million.

“That’s $11.5 million on two projects in one very tiny spot in Pennsylvania, and lots of other roads and bridges are still on the waiting list - and will be for years, not just in Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties but around that state.

“If America is to maintain a First World transportation system, it must start to address these needs. Eventually, cutting corners is going to catch up with us.”

[RWC] It’s socialism that’s catching up with us.