Editorial: Fixes long overdue

Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007 | 1:14 a.m.

Last week's terrifying collapse of a 41-year-old bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis put a spotlight on the condition of the nation's system of highway bridges, which civil engineers say is crumbling with each passing year.

A Federal Highway Administration report released at the end of 2006 shows that more than 77,796 of the nearly 600,000 bridges across the nation were "structurally deficient" - a term that doesn't necessarily mean a bridge is in danger of falling down. Structurally deficient also includes spans that need significant maintenance, are marked for replacement or carry weight restrictions.

Such deficiencies reach into virtually every state in the union. The federal agency's 2005 national bridge inventory shows that 50 of Nevada's 1,632 bridges were "structurally deficient."

The maintenance backlog, the highway administration says, is more than $55 billion.

In addition, the agency says, 80,632 of the nation's bridges are considered "functionally obsolete," meaning they no longer adequately serve a growing population. In Nevada, 146 bridges are in this category.

And bridges aren't the only structures in disrepair. A July report by the American Society of Civil Engineers says that maintenance is long overdue on the nation's aging infrastructure, such as bridges, electrical systems, water and sewer pipelines and dams. And such work will cost federal and state governments an estimated $1.6 trillion over the next five years. State officials say they cannot do it without federal help.

But whether the Bush administration will authorize such assistance is anyone's guess.

In a 381-40 vote on Wednesday, the House passed legislation that calls for $20 billion in water projects that include restoration of Gulf Coast wetlands, repairs to Upper-Mississippi River dams and upgrades or construction of drinking water and wastewater treatment plants in other areas. The Senate passed a similar measure by a 91-4 margin in May.

President Bush has promised to veto any water legislation that comes to him with a $20 billion price tag, saying it is nothing more than "pet projects." But Congress, thankfully, has more than enough votes to override a Bush veto.

It is myopic to think that these vital public systems will simply take care of themselves without any major investment or believe that such investments should wait until they're under someone else's watch. As the event in Minneapolis so tragically illustrated, the time to pay for repairing our nation's vital structures is now - before it is too late.