Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Bridges

What’s Wrong With America’s Ambivalence About Crumbling Infrastructure?

By Elana Schor | Feb 16, 2010 | 3 Comments

In today’s New York Times, Bob Herbert celebrates the cause of infrastructure maintenance — a less exciting proposition for politicians than cutting the ribbon at new transportation projects, but in many ways more vital to economic growth. A crumbling bridge support in Colorado. (Photo: Pure Thinking) After talking to Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), an […]

Geithner Adviser Backs ‘More Merit-Based’ Infrastructure Spending

By Elana Schor | Dec 16, 2009 | No Comments

Treasury Department counselor Gene Sperling told senators today that "we definitely support looking at … more merit-based" approaches to transportation spending, particularly an expansion of the stimulus law’s competitive TIGER grants and a national infrastructure bank. Treasury Department counselor Gene Sperling (Photo: Crooks and Liars) Sperling’s comments align with a White House document that last […]

Report: After MN Collapse, Bridge Repair Got Just 11% of D.C. Earmarks

By Elana Schor | Nov 12, 2009 | No Comments

In the wake of the 2007 collapse of Minnesota’s I-35 bridge, Washington policymakers vowed a renewed focus on repairing the nation’s aging infrastructure. But weeks after the fatal collapse, Congress approved a transportation spending bill with 704 earmarked projects, at a total cost topping $570 million — and just 11 percent of those earmarks went […]

Behind the ‘Bridge in a Backpack’ That Could Go National

By Elana Schor | Aug 18, 2009 | 1 Comment

Students at the AEWC, with a piece of composite "bridge in a backpack" cable in the background. (Photo: Bangor Daily News) It sounds like the start of a wonky transportation joke: Have you ever crossed a "bridge in a backpack"? Residents of Pittsfield, Maine, are doing so every day, and the concept could eventually be […]