The crumbling of an Interstate bridge in downtown Minneapolis brings to the forefront the Dirty Little Secret of the American Urban Core: Our national infrastructure is neglected and deconstructing and instead of rebuilding it we are rebuilding Iraq’s infrastructure.

The sad, hard, thing about the Minneapolis collapse —
other than the wholly inappropriate comment by a newscaster saying,
“The bridge looks just like 9/11” when nothing can compare to that
incredible sinking of hopes and promises — is not just the unnecessary
loss of life but the fact that for many years city elders knew the
bridge was unreliable and in danger of catastrophic demise.

Unfortunately, Minneapolis is not unique in big city manipulation of citizen expectation and prayers.

Bridges and roads across America are decaying at a terrifying rate and
yet no one wants to step up and pay for repair or new construction.

No
one has the guts to stand up and remedy the decaying infrastructure by
telling the truth, “We need to raise taxes to maintain our bridges and
roads and sewer systems.”

And so — in that cowardly, tax-abating void — we all retreat into benign sleepwalking waiting for the next inevitable crumbling to sound down around us.

And
so we all bide our time, waiting for the next collapse, and we all
cross our national fingers and toes and hearts that the next victim of
ongoing, expected and necessary urban decay won’t be someone we know
and love.

17 Comments

  2. I guess the power grid is part of the infrastructure, karvain, and I don’t think one thing was done about it. I guess we’re due for another regional blackout again, eh?

  7. And then of course, today the MTA shut down a lot of lines thanks to… flooding! Hooray for a crumbling infrastructure. Let our country decay but never mind that, we have to invade Iran.

  8. Gordon!
    Excellent point and how right you are from afar!
    Janna had to stay home today because the PATH was flooded and NYC’s underground transit system entirely melted. Over 1,000 people were lined up waiting for taxis near Grand Central Station. A total failure! Imagine if a terrorist attack were mixed in the mess.

  9. Kathakali Chatterjee – Hyderabad, India – Professionally, I have an interesting concoction of experience -- from entertainment industry to retailing to executive education -- the journey is still on. When I don't work, I love to travel, read, listen to music and watch movies.
    Kathakali Chatterjee says:

    Hi David,
    I have a few friends in Minneapolis I was scared to death after listening the news.
    Fortunately every one I knew was ok.

  11. This whole thing is quite the scandal here in Quebec. The government is currently investigating over 130 overpasses in the province that may be in trouble. 5 people died when an overpass in Laval collapsed last year. I am going to post a link to this post on my blog and I hope concerned people drop in and comment.
    http://neath.wordpress.com

  13. Thanks for the excellent information, neath! Your site is doing an excellent job in memorializing these problems so no future official can hide and say “we didn’t know.” Good job!
    Your bridge Avatar is both telling and beautiful!

  14. “We need to raise taxes”???
    The government is far larger today as a percent of GDP, and spends vastly more money today, than it was when the interstate highway system was first built. We clearly need to rearrange our priorities.

  15. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    If you don’t raise taxes, how will you begin to pay for proactive infrastructure maintenance?

    1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
      David W. Boles says:

      I agree!

      What is the solution? Will it take an infrastructure demise on the scale of the World Trade Center falling to get action?

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