How close is Michigan to having a Pittsburgh bridge?
It’s hard not to discuss the state of roads and bridges in the United States after we heard of Friday’s collapse of a bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
It is sad and ironic that on the same day the bridge collapsed, President Joe Biden traveled to Pittsburgh to tout the implementation of his $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which only allocates $110 billion (9.17%) for what would be considered traditional infrastructure, U.S. roads, bridges and related projects.
The Wall Street Journal recently estimated 43,000 bridges in the United States need of repair at an estimated cost well above the $40 billion currently allocated for bridge repair in President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. The funding for roads and bridges is spread out over 10 years and is woefully inadequate. Hundreds of billions of dollars in the president’s transportation bill that are being spent on less-needed green energy initiatives and other programs could easily be reassigned to shore up this nation’s roads and bridges in a more timely fashion.
The three of us happen to live in Michigan, and on a daily and weekly basis, we drive across numerous urban and rural bridges, and as a result of what happened in Pittsburgh, we are greatly concerned about our safety and that of all Michiganders.
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