'Deferred Maintenance,' Tumbledown Bridges, and Bathtubs

'Deferred Maintenance,' Tumbledown Bridges, and Bathtubs

Thu Aug 02, 2007 at 11:22:38 AM PDT

As I noted here last night, any good reporter with a few years on a city, county or state government beat will tell you that events like the tragic collapse of the 35W bridge over the Mississippi River between downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul Northeast Minneapolis are inevitable. Not that anybody knows for certain which bridges will fail. Only that some will.

As media reports and Diarists SanJoseLady, Phoenix Woman, Rena F, Joel Hirschhorn, karateexplosions, Bill Tchakirides, ray bob, davidkc, CarrieICL, DuvalDem, Tony Barr PA09, Misery Gore, and mmcintee in the seminal Repairs on Bridge Were Delayed are showing, the 35W bridge collapse was, as the cliché has it, an accident waiting to happen. A tragedy courtesy of politicians who, in their own ways, follow Grover Norquist's dictum of reducing government until it's small enough to drown in the bathtub. And of passing out massive tax cuts, mostly to people who need them least.

It's not just bridges. As the American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Report Card 2005 points out, we're $1.6 trillion behind in infrastructure investment. That, by the way, is the amount of tax cuts Mister Bush tried to get passed in 2001, before he had the Global War on Terrorism™ with which to shape his legacy. Congress "compromised" and gave him only $1.35 trillion, tax cuts that writer Robert Freeman once labeled a "national form of insanity."

What the ASCE's report points out is that bridges aren't our only problem:

Dams (D+) Since 1998, the number of unsafe dams has risen by 33% to more than 3,500. While federally owned dams are in good condition, and there have been modest gains in repair, the number of dams identified as unsafe is increasing at a faster rate than those being repaired. $10.1 billion is needed over the next 12 years to address all critical non-federal dams--dams which pose a direct risk to human life should they fail. ...

Drinking Water (D-) America faces a shortfall of $11 billion annually to replace aging facilities and comply with safe drinking water regulations. Federal funding for drinking water in 2005 remained level at $850 million, less than 10% of the total national requirement. The Bush administration has proposed the same level of funding for FY06. ...

Schools (D) The Federal government has not assessed the condition of America's schools since 1999, when it estimated that $127 billion was needed to bring facilities to good condition. Other sources have since reported a need as high as $268 billion. Despite public support of bond initiatives to provide funding for school facilities, without a clear understanding of the need, it is uncertain whether schools can meet increasing enrollment demands and the smaller class sizes mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act. ...

Transit (D+)Transit use increased faster than any other mode of transportation--up 21%--between 1993 and 2002. Federal investment during this period stemmed the decline in the condition of existing transit infrastructure. The reduction in federal investment in real dollars since 2001 threatens this turnaround. In 2002, total capital outlays for transit were $12.3 billion. The Federal Transit Administration estimates $14.8 billion is needed annually to maintain conditions, and $20.6 billion is needed to improve to "good" conditions. Meanwhile, many major transit properties are borrowing funds to maintain operations, even as they are significantly raising fares and cutting back service. ...

Wastewater (D-) Aging wastewater management systems discharge billions of gallons of untreated sewage into U.S. surface waters each year. The EPA estimates that the nation must invest $390 billion over the next 20 years to replace existing systems and build new ones to meet increasing demands. Yet, in 2005, Congress cut funding for wastewater management for the first time in eight years. The Bush administration has proposed a further 33% reduction, to $730 million, for FY06.

This ought to be a no-brainer.

It's understandable in impoverished Chad or Haiti or East Timor or the back-country of the People's Republic of China. But there is no excuse for lethal tumbledown infrastructure in this country. Congress gave Mister Bush $1.35 trillion in tax cuts. Congress has appropriated $600 billion (so far, with more to come) for a war that should never have happened. Congress enables the military-industrial complex to vacuum up additional hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars annually. Congress just approved $25 billion in annual farm subsidies, the vast majority of which go to rich farmers.

And on, and on. It's not just the Feds, obviously. In state after state, the bathtub drowners argue for tax cuts which ensure that this shameful deterioration of American infrastructure will continue. Every old bridge that falls down is, symbolically and actually, a testament to their vision.