I-5 over the Skagit River between Burlington and Mt. Vernon (Seattle: loan, limousine)

[Botev1912]

This is what happens when citizens want low taxes. It took Japan 6 (six) days to rebuild collapsed roads after the tsunami in 2011. I can't imagine how long this would take in the US. This reminds me of my thread 2 months ago: //www.city-data.com/forum/washi...dangerous.html

[KEVIN_224]

Alberta trucker driving oversized rig caused Washington State bridge collapse (with video)

A trucker from Alberta is responsible for this bridge accident, eh?

[tablemtn]

Modern bridges are designed so that a single oversized load striking part of the bridge's superstructure won't just bring the entire thing down. That's an enormous design flaw when you think about the potential for accidents.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by Botev1912

This is what happens when citizens want low taxes. It took Japan 6 (six) days to rebuild collapsed roads after the tsunami in 2011. I can't imagine how long this would take in the US. This reminds me of my thread 2 months ago: //www.city-data.com/forum/washi...dangerous.html

Are you sure that is attributable to how much people are taxed? You would certainly agree that Germans pay a lot in taxes. When I lived in Idar-Oberstein it took them 2 years to repave and repair a regular bridge. They can be working on a stretch of the autobahn for months. It probably has more to do with red tape, union work laws, and who knows what else. I don't even know if it costs less money when they drag things out. It probably costs more.

[Botev1912]

I didn't say high taxes mean faster fix. I meant bridges wouldn't collapse in the first place if taxes are higher because when taxes are low there is no money for regular maintenance.

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by sean98125

It's going to be a lot longer than "weeks" before this is fixed. It's going to take that long for the engineers to look at the structure and come up with a plan on whether they replace the one span or the whole thing. This is a rare opportunity to build a new bridge with wider shoulders and no overhead structure on a major route and I have a feeling that the federal and state governments are going to just replace the whole thing.

Then they'll have to build it, and possibly build new approaches. It's not going to be functional again for a year or two.

If you're planning a trip to Vancouver in the next year or two, start making your Amtrak reservations.

Its 3 weeks before departure for the lowest price...they could extend the Sounder up and add Emergency Commuter Rail relief...

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by Botev1912

I didn't say high taxes mean faster fix. I meant bridges wouldn't collapse in the first place if taxes are higher because when taxes are low there is no money for regular maintenance.

Or it means that the government is not really putting enough money into the road maintenance, then crying poverty to raise taxes to do so... only to divert that money elsewhere. Seattle does that all the time, why wouldn't the State and Federal Gov't do the same?

[sll3454]

Originally Posted by Botev1912

I didn't say high taxes mean faster fix. I meant bridges wouldn't collapse in the first place if taxes are higher because when taxes are low there is no money for regular maintenance.

Last year the bridge was inspected twice and repaired.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by Botev1912

I didn't say high taxes mean faster fix. I meant bridges wouldn't collapse in the first place if taxes are higher because when taxes are low there is no money for regular maintenance.

I see. In a perfect world yes. As InkPoe mentions, politicians don't always prioritize well. In a society with high taxes, politicians don't have to be so good at prioritizing. When taxes are low their poor prioritization manifests itself. They usually fund all over their unnecessary stuff first, and then cry for money for schools, firefighters, etc. If you looked at the state budget you would definitely find items that were funded over this that shouldn't have been.

Also, states received a ton of money for the stimulus. You see construction projects all over the country with the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" sign prominently displayed. The feds were begging for "shovel ready" projects. It's quite possible that some human sitting in some agency simply didn't think the bridge was an issue and it was too far back in his mind. Some explanations come down to nothing more than an error in human judgment.

[MrWillys]

Get a crane barge up there now, and start removing the damaged portions. Get engineers from all the Western states to come up with a plan, and give it to CC Myers of California, and get out of the way. These guys rebuilt I-10 in LA, and the collapsed section from truck explosion at the bay bridge in record time. The guy that owns CC Myers lives to out perform everybody and get er done!