MEDFORD (WBZ) ― Three lanes of traffic on I-93 north will likely be closed through the evening rush hour because of another large hole in a bridge in Medford, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday. State police closed part of the highway around 7 a.m. after four cars were damaged by the new hole.
For those not familiar with the greater Boston area, Interstate 93 runs from south of Boston through New Hampshire into Vermont. It is a major conduit into and out of Boston, bringing commuters from as far away as Concord NH into town. This is a major thoroughfare, and the closing of 93 is a huge blow to traffic and commuters in pretty much all of eastern Massachusetts. Expect road rage posts to increase...
Here's the scariest part:
As a result, the state is now accelerating a plan to repair 14 crumbling bridges in the Medford and Somerville area.
Something tells me that this is only going to get worse over time, especially as states deal with tightening budgets and smaller departments. Road maintenance tends to be performed on an ad hoc basis, with problems addressed as they come up. Roads deteriorate in much the same manner as the brakes on a car - they get a little bit worse a little at a time, and it's hard to see unless you deliberately look outside your own area. It's one of those areas that is manpower, equipment, and resource intensive; it disrupts the normal traffic flow and upsets people; it takes a good deal of time to do correctly; and basically, it's not something that anyone is all that interested in until it falls completely apart.
The trouble is when it falls apart in bad financial times. It's hard enough to get residents to sign onto a tax increase to fund a new school, or adding on a police officer or a new fire truck. Try getting an override passed that funds a new street resurfacing - sure, the folks that live on that street might vote in favor, and maybe half of the people that drive down it otherwise, but good luck with the remaining 90% of the town. As a result, it often gets neglected until it has gone far beyond a quick repair and well into the "complete rebuild" status, which is what it sounds like has happened here.
And something tells me there are thousands of these bridges all over the United States just getting ready to fall apart...
That is all.
10 comments:
My drive to work takes me past a couple of bridges that cross over I-94. Right now are being re-built. A third bridge nearby had gotten damaged this past winter by a semi hitting the supports.
I have a feeling during the repair of that third bridge they got a look inside and saw serious deterioration prompting them to rebuild the other two before bad things happened.
Yet, don't you know there are more important things to spend money on then infrastructure?
We have people who are forced to go to public clinics instead of having their own government provided private health insurance.
We have people who aren't going to college darn it...we need to spend more money to pay for their college classes. Of course, that means we have to spend more money on them in elementary, middle and high school to get them ready for college.
Jay, You obviously don't get it. Think of the delays as a tax on the working class to pay for the non-working class
And just think of that poor city planner from Bel, California! He was forced to resign from his $800,000 job, now he has to make do on his $600,000 a year pension! Can't you imagine that? He's going to be "unemployed" for the rest of his life and have to live off a fixed income that's barely over half a million.
Wasn't there a major bridge collapse three or four years ago?
I believe it prompted more thorough inspections of bridges generally.
So why weren't the 14 crumbling bridges spotted years ago?
If the drivers were anything but total incompetents, unable to drive on anything but clear dry pavement (and barely capable at that) the state would not need to use millions of tons of SALT that degrades concrete and corrodes the steel that the bridges & roads are made of. We taxpayers pick up the tab because brainless grossly incompetent drivers create such carnage when the roads become anything less than clear and dry.
And don't get me started on 4 wheel drive vehicles. They're worse than standard cars unless properly driven.
A hole through I93? It's probably just an escape tunnel-
FrankC-
Yep. Here in Minneapolis the I35W bridge over the Mississippi collapsed a couple of years ago. Bad juju.
Point of Order.
I-93 doesn't go to Vermont, it goes stays in New Hampshire. I-89 goes to Vermont from New Hampshire.
Also the major bridge collapse, which was indeed a major bridge collapse, was used to hammer George Bush for not building better bridges. Or something. After Obama was elected, it became a non issue.
I'm sorry, but this story sounds like its Unpossible (nod to Unc). After all, weren't all the roads around Beantown made State of the Art when you finished up your "Big Dig an extra 15 Billion out of the taxpayer's wallet" road project a few years ago?
Yes Les. State of the Art. You just missed the fact that it was the "Art of Graft".
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