November 17, 2015
By NYT Editorial Board
...While Congress wrestles (click here) with the money, this much is clear: America’s transportation system is badly in need of repair and investment. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s railways and bridges a “C+” grade and its roads and transit systems a “D” in a 2013 report. The Transportation Department estimates that 10 percent of bridges are structurally deficient.
By NYT Editorial Board
...While Congress wrestles (click here) with the money, this much is clear: America’s transportation system is badly in need of repair and investment. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s railways and bridges a “C+” grade and its roads and transit systems a “D” in a 2013 report. The Transportation Department estimates that 10 percent of bridges are structurally deficient.
In a speech in September,
Anthony Foxx, the transportation secretary, said that the government
must spend $400 billion over the next six years just to maintain the
current transportation system; to improve the system would take an
additional $78 billion. Yet the House passed a bill
this month that budgets only $325 billion for six years. Lawmakers
could have easily come up with more money had they been willing to raise
the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gasoline tax, which was last
increased in 1993. But members of Congress were determined not to raise
the tax ahead of an election year....
If the USA has an emergency our strategic reserve will be depleted to begin with. The proposed law currently in conference committee doesn't even cover the needed infrastructure improvements. The conference committee is operating under Republican brinkmanship. They have waited for the last minute to move a bill forward that short changes Americans safety and sell our strategic reserve. The is a Republican majority. Take a good look.
I fully expect Democratic candidates for President will speak to this travesty called Republican governance.
The law includes a bypass on truck driver rest and sleep requirements. And they want to add enormous train like trailer combinations besides. This is a Wall Street bill and not one of the people of this country. This provision alone will cause traffic and highway deaths. State legislatures will have to address this immediately to be sure truck drivers are not falling asleep with three 48 foot trailers behind them.
Bridge Laws that help insure the infrastructure of the USA will be dissolved with 'train truck and trailer combinations.' Our infrastructure is old and constructed under decades old formulas and laws. This danger is real.
How add three long 80,000 pound trailers across the bridge. Then add a truck and three trailers across every lane of a bridge and the weight rolling over our highways are killer laws.
One tractor alone is pulling 240,000 pounds. Now, add four lanes and two trucks more north and two moving south; they pass each other on the bridge that is a total of 920,000 over a bridge span of 44 feet to 52 feet wide and a length of 148 feet long. That is ridiculous. There is danger to the public that is undeniable.
In Figure 1(A), (click here) the stress on bridge members as the longer truck rolls
across is much less than that caused by the short vehicle in Figure
1(B), even though both trucks have the same total weight and individual
axle weights. The weight of the longer vehicle is spread out, while the
shorter vehicle has all of the weight concentrated on a small area.
Add to that the weight of the bridge itself and the supports under the bridge is under enormous stress. The span is under stress and the supports are as well. These roads and bridges are not safe under this conference bill.
The Democrats in Red States should be pushing the reality that Republicans pass bills that endanger voters' lives. Public safety in infrastructure should be a vital position by Democratic statesmen and women in every level of governance. Voters are capable of understanding the danger and translating it into false loyalty to Wall Street principles. Red State voters are willing to accept death in earning a living within their definition of longevity. This is hideous and Americans should expect the best of governance NOT hideous ideas of acceptable dangers.
All Americans need to realize how they spend their time traveling to see the beauty of America. When federal mandates are sacrificed for state preferences the danger to all Americans take a very different picture. What is to protect New Yorkers from gross mismanagement of the public safety in Texas. It is ridiculous and should be considered when traveling including gun laws.
If the USA has an emergency our strategic reserve will be depleted to begin with. The proposed law currently in conference committee doesn't even cover the needed infrastructure improvements. The conference committee is operating under Republican brinkmanship. They have waited for the last minute to move a bill forward that short changes Americans safety and sell our strategic reserve. The is a Republican majority. Take a good look.
I fully expect Democratic candidates for President will speak to this travesty called Republican governance.
The law includes a bypass on truck driver rest and sleep requirements. And they want to add enormous train like trailer combinations besides. This is a Wall Street bill and not one of the people of this country. This provision alone will cause traffic and highway deaths. State legislatures will have to address this immediately to be sure truck drivers are not falling asleep with three 48 foot trailers behind them.
Bridge Laws that help insure the infrastructure of the USA will be dissolved with 'train truck and trailer combinations.' Our infrastructure is old and constructed under decades old formulas and laws. This danger is real.
How add three long 80,000 pound trailers across the bridge. Then add a truck and three trailers across every lane of a bridge and the weight rolling over our highways are killer laws.
One tractor alone is pulling 240,000 pounds. Now, add four lanes and two trucks more north and two moving south; they pass each other on the bridge that is a total of 920,000 over a bridge span of 44 feet to 52 feet wide and a length of 148 feet long. That is ridiculous. There is danger to the public that is undeniable.
In Figure 1(A), (click here) the stress on bridge members as the longer truck rolls
across is much less than that caused by the short vehicle in Figure
1(B), even though both trucks have the same total weight and individual
axle weights. The weight of the longer vehicle is spread out, while the
shorter vehicle has all of the weight concentrated on a small area.Add to that the weight of the bridge itself and the supports under the bridge is under enormous stress. The span is under stress and the supports are as well. These roads and bridges are not safe under this conference bill.
The Democrats in Red States should be pushing the reality that Republicans pass bills that endanger voters' lives. Public safety in infrastructure should be a vital position by Democratic statesmen and women in every level of governance. Voters are capable of understanding the danger and translating it into false loyalty to Wall Street principles. Red State voters are willing to accept death in earning a living within their definition of longevity. This is hideous and Americans should expect the best of governance NOT hideous ideas of acceptable dangers.
All Americans need to realize how they spend their time traveling to see the beauty of America. When federal mandates are sacrificed for state preferences the danger to all Americans take a very different picture. What is to protect New Yorkers from gross mismanagement of the public safety in Texas. It is ridiculous and should be considered when traveling including gun laws.
