Interesting line in the final stimulus plan

[dirty30]

Infrastructure:

Highways repaved for the first time in decades. Century-old waterlines dug up and replaced with new pipes. Aging bridges, stressed under the weight of today's SUVs, reinforced with fresh steel and concrete.


???

Discuss

[JasonC]

stressed under the weight of today's SUVs,


???

Discuss

Oh please how

[Money$hit]

Congress and Senate got a copy of the bill at 12:00 midnight, and voted on it the next day after only 90 minutes of deliberation. The bill was over 1000 pages long, and 8 inches thick. There were handwritten notes in the margins, some figures changed last minute from $100 million, scribbled out and $150 million in its place. Even one earmark that literally allocated $1.5B for "Science". WTF does that mean? Not one person read the bill.

No one had time to even read it as promised by Obama. Even congress/senate unanimously wanted it to sit for 48 hrs before a vote, but Nancy Pelosi and Barack got their way. All this oversight and transparency, and I haven't even seen a lick of it.

[delfin]

Is it really so horrible that they are building stronger bridges?

[mrsleeve]

Centuries old water main, LOL thats funny, 99.9999% of these were dug up between the 30's-50's. I have seen a small 100' section of wood water main that was still in service till we replaced it. But yes the stuff thats in the ground since the the 60's or longer needs to come out as much of that is lead joint water main,


And streesed under the weight of our SUV's Give me a fucking break, what was did the average car weigh 35+ years ago???? The only thing that comes close are HD pick ups and surburbans and excursions weighing in at over 5300lbs.

Money: You are right on with you assessment.

[dirty30]

Is it really so horrible that they are building stronger bridges?

I am not against building stronger bridges, I just though that particular line was really odd. Yes SUV's are heavy. So are 18 wheelers, large 80's american station wagons, utility vans, pickup trucks full of lawn equipment etc. Its almost like they thought the bridges are just now being weakened by SUV's because of their weight.

On a different note, VDOT just built a new flyover or on/off ramp to eliminate an intersection with a traffic signal on a very busy section of RT28 here in Sterling. Total cost for one of these structures is around 70 million. I am curious just how many of these bridges(or any highway infrastructure) they plan on replacing on what appears to be pocket change that the government is handing out. Just doesn't add up in my mind.

[dirty30]

Again I posted this with a bi-partisan mind set, not really siding with anyone in particular because not one single person knows what the fuck to do anyway.

[KenC]

Perhaps they'll finally repave the roads in my neighborhood now :). The intersection I live on was closed for four days bc a water-main from the 189Xs blew.

[delfin]

I am not against building stronger bridges, I just though that particular line was really odd. Yes SUV's are heavy. So are 18 wheelers, large 80's american station wagons, utility vans, pickup trucks full of lawn equipment etc. Its almost like they thought the bridges are just now being weakened by SUV's because of their weight.

On a different note, VDOT just built a new flyover or on/off ramp to eliminate an intersection with a traffic signal on a very busy section of RT28 here in Sterling. Total cost for one of these structures is around 70 million. I am curious just how many of these bridges(or any highway infrastructure) they plan on replacing on what appears to be pocket change that the government is handing out. Just doesn't add up in my mind.

I think what they are getting at is that there is an increasing number of SUVs on top of the bigger trucks so they wear down faster. Still gonna call bullshit on it though.

[Jon325i]

Congress and Senate got a copy of the bill at 12:00 midnight, and voted on it the next day after only 90 minutes of deliberation. The bill was over 1000 pages long, and 8 inches thick. There were handwritten notes in the margins, some figures changed last minute from $100 million, scribbled out and $150 million in its place. Even one earmark that literally allocated $1.5B for "Science". WTF does that mean? Not one person read the bill.

No one had time to even read it as promised by Obama. Even congress/senate unanimously wanted it to sit for 48 hrs before a vote, but Nancy Pelosi and Barack got their way. All this oversight and transparency, and I haven't even seen a lick of it.

Mr. Boehner - GOP Leader - puts your thoughts into perspective....



So much for our 'representative' government. Thank you for pointing this out Boehner.


Jon

[Hallen]

The funny thing is, those water mains and bad bridges have been known about for years. And yet the government hasn't bothered to fund fixing them before now. And, it is just a token gesture in this bill. The irresponsibility of the government when it comes to things like this is really amazing. This is the kind of things we pay taxes for. Maintain the infrastructure. If the government can't handle it, then fine, lower my taxes and I'll pay to drive on the roads so private companies can do it. It would probably be cheaper in the long run that way.

[Money$hit]

Mr. Boehner - GOP Leader - puts your thoughts into perspective....



So much for our 'representative' government. Thank you for pointing this out Boehner.


Jon

Wow, i didnt see that vid. I would encourage everyone to watch it.

[joshh]

People will have to die before they actually do anything about the bridges and roads....

[nkell09]

People will have to die before they actually do anything about the bridges and roads....

yep...

[Hodge]

Wow..all I really have to say....Mr. Boehner's 36 second speech was good....NOT ONE PERSON read it....how sad is our government now-a-days?