The Unexpected Happens
In infrastructure we trust.Driving heedless to the potential for danger over bridges, overpasses, trusting to municipal authorities, provincial or state laws, sound engineering principles and responsible oversight and inspections to ensure that our trust is not misplaced. And then, out of nowhere, the impossible happens and a dependable, approved, respected structure ruptures and chaos ensues. As it did last fall in Montreal. As it did this week in Minneapolis.
Can one conjecture that our oversight authorities have not been sufficiently on guard for us? After all, in both instances, it was later discovered that inspections by those who should know uncovered some shortcomings in the structures - that they were red-flagged, but their concerns were later overturned by those who make the decisions whether or not to go ahead with repairs. Costly repairs. A cost which it is assumed taxpayers are not prepared to be burdened with.
And as with all such instances where the obvious doesn't appear to be sufficiently obvious to exact the concern it merits, a disaster occurs, one that was unavoidable, because those in authority felt they could squeeze a little longer shelf-life out of an overburdened and fatigued system. Allocations, priorities and flawed judgements equal civic disasters.
It's estimated that Canadian bridge structures have gone beyond 49% of their life-span of reliability. The country has received expert notice that roads, wastewater plants and other civic infrastructure are approaching the same dire condition requiring urgent upgrades and repair. The estimate of $100-billion to pay for the upgrade of bridges, roads, sewage plants has been bruited about.
And the Government of Canada has allocated 16.5-billion over a four-year period to be devoted to upgrades. In the face of statistics that indicate wastewater treatment facilities have passed 63% of their useful life; roads and highways 59%, and sewer systems 52%. It's little wonder our vital infrastructure is faltering.
Bridges built in the 1970s, using construction methods then approved were thought to be sound for a 50-year period. But usage in that span of time has increased exponentially, adding wear and tear to an imperfect and ageing system. And more crises loom ahead. It's expensive to replace these costly installations; costly too to examine them beyond the visual, since detailed inspections with the use of X-rays and ultrasounds run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Transport ministries at the various governmental levels may be aware of their ageing infrastructure, but they're also acutely aware of the bottom line and increasing costs for all major repairs. Problem is, the upgrades and repairs are taking too long to come on line, in the interests of saving pennies in the short term. No one wants to take the big difficult decisions, hoping they can be left on someone else's watch.
Functional practicalities are sacrificed to the misplaced whim of misguided bureaucrats, answering to powerful leaders. There are so many areas in a country where the allocation of tax dollars are required as priorities; education, health, law and order. But the very infrastructures put in place in responsible societies to provide for clean potable water, treatment of waste products, highway and bridge infrastructures are also paramount.
With respect to the Minneapolis bridge collapse, a 2001 report which signalled no big alert necessitating premature replacement, also indicated that the bridge had been designed under outdated regulations, with resulting corrosion problems and "poor welding". The American Society of Civil Engineers warned of corroding bridges in a 2003 report, with 27% of bridges flagged as structurally deficient or "functionally obsolete".
The dreadful lapse of responsibility at municipal, state and federal levels evidenced at the cataclysmic natural disaster that hit New Orleans highlighted legal, functional and responsibility deficits, surprising in a country with the wealth of the United States. Funds that should have been allocated to ensure adequate systems of dike defense were in place, along with declining permission for people to build in vulnerable areas helped that disaster to occur.
Billions of dollars are being spent overseas on fighting a war that has little to do with the welfare of Americans, in Iraq, under pretext of protecting that country and the world at large from Islamist terrorists who were brought like opportunistic hornets into the country to wage a popular war against the infidels, delighting jihadists with this home-grown opportunity to practise blood-thirsty mayhem.
They've been inordinately successful in their mission; striking unreasoning terror into the hearts of those they attack, and in the process managing to infiltrate by default those very systems of civil infrastructure that keep the population safe and well-functioning. Infrastructure funds are trickling toward vital civic upkeep, while war-and-defence funds are gushing out of the country, satisfying no one but arms manufacturers.
In Canada the federal government has been asked time and again by the provinces and the municipalities to re-adjust and redistribute tax monies. Cities are falling apart, their highways neglected along with the bridges, as with wastewater treatment facilities to respond to greater needs as the population continues to grow. Municipal tax bases are no longer sufficient for the needs that increased as provinces shed responsibility for social issues to the cities.
All part and parcel of massive misgoverning at every level. That's really too bad. How dire is it supposed to get before proper recognition is granted and the situation amended?
Labels: Political Realities, That's Life
posted by Pieface @ Friday, August 03, 2007
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