Funding the bridge over troubled waters
Published September 17, 2013
Editorial by Fayetteville Observer, September 17, 2013.
Old-time scam artists who "sold" the Brooklyn Bridge would have a hard time plying their trade these days.
That's especially true here in North Carolina, where thousands of bridges fail to meet structural-safety standards or are obsolete in design and capacity.
We have some of those bridges here. At last count, there were 20 structurally deficient bridges in Cumberland County and more than 30 were judged obsolete.
The reigning champion of troubled bridges, though, is the Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks. It was expected to last 30 years when it was built in 1963. Not only is it in bad condition, but it rests on shifting sands periodically stirred by tropical storms and hurricanes.
State plans for the bridge have been debated for decades, and the latest is held up by a federal lawsuit filed by environmental groups who say the design will wreak havoc on the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Meanwhile, highway fund balances, fed by motor-fuel taxes, are declining because people drive less and in more efficient vehicles. Our highways and bridges are falling apart and there's less money for fixing and expanding them.
Lawmakers have some urgent decisions ahead. We need new funding sources. Now.
September 17, 2013 at 8:01 am
TP Wohlford says:
Translation -- "We need more taxes from those uber-rich people who are sitting on top of their infinite stack o' cash."
Let's get real, shall we?
First, I thought that the Obama Stimulus was just such cash, whose poster child was that bridge in Minnesota over the Mississippi that collapsed. So, guys, what happened? How about unleashing your crack team of journalists on that one? Could it be something other than a need to throw more money at it?
How about that "high speed rail" project a mile from my house, which will raise the average speed of the trains to a whopping 48 mph? How about the plans for train stations ever 15 miles in these parts? How many bridges would that money fix?
Second, I see lots of road construction in the state. Granted, in high growth areas (read: places with jobs), there is a crying need for such projects. North Carolina's highways are among the best in the nation.
So why the "evergreen" (a little journalism jargon for you!) story on how our bridges are falling down? Haven't we heard that annual story for at least 2 generations? Who is planting it? Is this the latest effort by some union, some recipient of government contracts, to drum up business?
If I had a staff of journalists at my disposal, THAT is the story I'd be chasing down. Right before I ask, "What happened to $800b in Pork Stimulus money and why didn't it create jobs?"
