U.S. infrastructure on verge of total failure, says expert
Pastor Dale Morgan
*U.S. infrastructure on verge of total failure, says expert*
Posted: August 3, 2007
WASHINGTON – Americans breathed a sigh a relief when they learned the
disastrous bridge collapse in Minneapolis was not an act of terror.
But the fatal failure of the 40-year-old structure may be worse news in
the long run for the nation than had it fallen victim to an attack, says
Thomas Rooney, president of Insituform Technologies of St. Louis, Mo.
"The U.S. Department of Transportation says 100,000 bridges in this
country are structurally deficient," he says. "If 1 percent of 1 percent
of these dangerous structures collapse, that is not accidental. That is
predictable."
As bad as they are, bridges are in better shape than the rest of our
infrastructure, says Rooney.
The EPA reports 3.5 million people got sick last year from 73,000 sewer
pipe breaks around the country.
"Maybe some were accidents," he says. "But when something happens 73,000
times, that is no longer accidental. That is negligence."
Water pipes are even worse. In some parts of America, 50 percent of the
drinking water leaks from bad pipes after it is treated but before it
reaches the home, reports Rooney.
"Water officials mistakenly believe that it is cheaper to shove more
water through leaky pipes than fix them," he says.
Rooney said last month's pipe explosion in Manhattan was also discounted
as a mere accident.
"But these catastrophes were not accidents," says Rooney. "Not if the
word has any meaning. Immediately following the bridge collapse,
Minnesota officials said the same things as their counterparts in
Manhattan just a few weeks ago. They had recently inspected the bridge
and the pipe. And so it could not have been their fault."
Rooney continues: "As president of the largest sewer, oil and pipe
repair company in the world, I've heard that excuse before – 73,000
times last year alone."
About 30 percent of America's nearly 500,000 bridges are categorized as
"deficient" and in "urgent need of repair." In 11 Northeastern states,
50 percent of bridges not only need urgent repairs but are not designed
to handle current traffic levels. Many of the bridges are 50 years or
older – considerably older than the bridge in Minneapolis.
In New York, the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883. The George Washington
Bridge opened in 1931. It still carries 300,000 vehicles a day.
An estimated $1.6 trillion is needed over five years to bring America's
infrastructure up to "safe standards."
"The nation is failing to even maintain the substandard conditions we
currently have," said the report card from the American Society of Civil
Engineers, "a dangerous trend that is affecting highway safety, as well
as the health of the economy."
"Ignoring bad infrastructure and hoping it will do no harm is not an
option anymore," says Rooney. "Places that take care of their
infrastructure are safer, healthier and more prosperous."