That scene in the movie Speed where the bus jumps the gap on the over pass was pretty cool. So there are pros and cons to crumbling infrastructure
The best way to fix a bridge gap is installing a hot-wheels looping in front of it.
Sounds liked expected numbers given the expected life of bridges. if you replace them at end of life there will be no issues.
In many states, there are simply too many bridges that are coming due at the same time. When you take into account budgeting, state and local policies on detours (for safety reasons ie emergency services being able to get across town in 5 minutes max), and record flooding taking out entire bridges you start to see the issue.
We recently had a situation where one major thoroughfare was closed for planned reconstruction, and 2 other bridges were closed after a hurrican came through and caused irreperal damage to them. This brought traffic and commuting to grid lock in the area, but the replacement bridges could not be engineered fast enough and the other bridge was literally demolished down to its foundations.
Not every bridge has to be substantial either. In a lot of states in the North East there are thousands of tiny bridges over creeks. And many of them are well over 100 years old but just so inconvenient to replace.
Can’t fix the bridges because giving Jim Bob a 20 minute detour for 8 weeks is the end of the world for our just in time manufacturing systems.
As we found out in Minneapolis around 2011 I think, you get very long detours when major bridges collapse.
Or Baltimore in 2024
Or like… 12 days when I-95 collapsed.
To be fair, they filled underneath that bridge in and paved over it in 12 days. I95 was the major priority and they could ignore the off ramp for the time being. Building the bridge took much longer even with great deal of manpower and equipment dedicated to it.
And we lack adquate public transit infrastructure, so the system can’t handle the increase in traffic.
I also think it’s due in part to a backlog of bridges not being replaced or pushed past their life expectancy with minor upgrades.
The climate side is terrifying
More great news.
I worry about things like this in my home state. I never really thought about it before, until I noticed the world is ran by maniacs that do not care about anything other than money and prestige. Now, every time there is a traffic jam over a bridge, or I go under one, I just can’t help but feel uneasy. I do not trust my government, local or federal, to properly ensure these things are up to standard. Throw in Redumblicans fighting tooth and nail for deregulation, and my fears get higher.
Tear down the highway bridges, build rail bridges or mixed use bridges. Easy. Those things have lasted a ridiculously long time, and many railway trestle approaches made of timber from the late 19th century are still standing and operational.
They won’t carry modern high speed trains…
