Following the tragic collapse of the I-35W bridge outside of Minneapolis last week, just about every major news outlet in every media market scurried to scrutinize the safety of its own local bridges. As with most areas of the country, the results for the metro-Washington area were not encouraging. The Washington Post found that well over a thousand area bridges were structural shadows of their former selves; 15 bridges in the District, 1200 in Virginia, and over 400 in Maryland have been listed as “structurally deficient.” Officials are quick to assure the public that the bridges are safe, telling us that the designation is merely a “red flag.”
We have no doubt that this is true (though for how long, we’re not sure), but the deterioration of our bridges says something about our transportation priorities.
Photo by {ryan}
