BCT Editorial – 8/1/08

This page was last updated on August 3, 2008.

Bridge gap; Editorial; Beaver County Times; August 1, 2008.

Before I begin, keep in mind today’s editorial “Record deficit” cries crocodile tears about spending.

The editorial says, “Gov. Ed Rendell, part of a bipartisan coalition lobbying for increased federal funding, said a congressional study committee found that states and local sources ante 75 percent of $80 billion spent each year on transportation infrastructure. Rendell said states will never be able to keep up with ever-increasing costs and repair needs without federal help.”

That’s BS. Local/state taxpayers should be able to pay for the roads where they live. Whether the dollars appear to come from the feds, the states, or local government, the ultimate source is the same, you and I.

Finally, we read “Heaven forbid we have another tragedy like the one in Minnesota, where a bridge on Interstate 35W collapsed, killing 13 people.” Either the editorial writer doesn’t read the news, or this is yet another attempt at deception. As a reminder, the Minnesota bridge collapse had nothing to do with poor maintenance. The collapse report attributed the main cause to a design flaw (Gusset plates were ½ the thickness they should have been.) and a contributing factor was the weight of construction equipment/materials on the bridge. Since the Times jumped on the poor maintenance bandwagon (“Bitter harvest”) just after the collapse, Times editorials were predictably silent when the collapse report came to a different conclusion.