As the nation watches in stunned amazement as dead Americans are pulled from beneath the rubble of a major bridge on an interstate highway in a major metro area, we have to wonder: what are this nation's priorities? Are we to become a third-world nation with a decaying, failing infrastructure and a tin-pot dictator at the helm of our 'unitary executive'? And if this can happen in Minnesota, couldn't it happen here?
You bet your bippy it could. Arizona has 720 bridges that have been rated either obsolete or structurally deficient. Dozens of these obsolete and structurally deficient bridges carry at least 10,000 vehicles a day. The truly worrisome bridges are those which carry significant traffic and are rated structurally deficient, limiting their use to light vehicles, or forcing them to close to traffic altogether. These bridges present a possibility of a tragedy like that in Minnesota.
Here is a complete list of these obsolete and deficient high-traffic bridges; I've listed here only those structurally deficient (status (D)) high-traffic bridges. With our taxes going to a pointless and ill-conceived war and feeding a gaping maw of debt service, instead of investing for the future here at home, I don't expect this list to get shorter any time soon. The bridge in Minnesota that collapsed had a structural rating of 50 out of a possible 100, just to give you a frame of reference for the ratings on these Arizona bridges. I sure hope you don't find a bridge here you or a loved one drives on every day; but remember, over 10,000 fellow Arizonans do drive on each of these bridges every single day.
Status | Rating | Road | Place | County | Feature | Location |
D | 56.1 | APACHE | SLICK ROCK CREEK | S OF FT DEFIANCE AZ | ||
D | 43.0 | 10 | COCHISE | WASH | 2.4 MI E OF JCT SR 90 | |
D | 47.5 | COCONINO | RIO DE FLAG | 0.3 MI W JCT US 180 | ||
D | 25.0 | LA PAZ | COLORADO RIVER | 40.89 MI N OF JCT I 10 | ||
D | 67.7 | 10 | LA PAZ | COLORADO RIVER | 18.9 MI W OF JCT US 95 | |
D | 63.7 | MARICOPA | SAND TANK WASH | 0.5 MI W JCT SR 85 | ||
D | 65.7 | MARICOPA | GILLESPIE IRR CANAL | 0.05 MI W JCT SR 85 | ||
D | 25.5 | MARICOPA | GRAND CANAL | .5 MI N IND.SCH.RD | ||
D | 19.0 | 15 | MOHAVE | VIRGIN RIVER | 22.6 MI E OF NEVADA | |
D | 70.0 | 95 | MOHAVE | COLORADO RIVER | 24.33 MI SOUTH RT 68 | |
D | 59.0 | 10 | PIMA | CIENEGA CREEK | 13.2 MI WEST OF JCT SR 90 | |
D | 47.1 | PIMA | SANTA CRUZ RIVER | 0.7 MI W OF I 10 | ||
D | 76.6 | 10 | PINAL | GILA RIVER | 26.0 MI N OF JCT I 8 | |
D | 76.6 | 10 | PINAL | GILA RIVER | 26.0 MI N OF JCT I 8 | |
D | 66.1 | 69 | YAVAPAI | SR 89 | AT JCT SR 89 | |
D | 38.0 | YAVAPAI | GOVERNMENT CANYON | 0.10 MI SE JCT SR 89 |
We in Arizona Pride ourselves with NO Bridges we just drive our Citizens Through The Washes and put up stupid signs "Do Not Enter When Flooded"!
Arizona having been 70 Years BEHIND in building Bridges over rivers and washes has killed MORE of its travelers than those States with Bridges and not driving them through the Riverbeds!
Posted by: American Chauvinist | August 05, 2007 at 07:35 PM
Michael,
I ranted at my place that the systemic issue began with Reagan who essentially felt that "government was bad" and the less it did the better.
He gutted everything. I concur entirely with your post. The GOP has taken this government dangerously away from the mission of serving the country.
Sadly, we will reap what we have sown. Hopefully, we will learn from it.
Posted by: x4mr | August 05, 2007 at 07:51 PM