Aging US infrastructure under spotlight after bridge collapse

NEW YORK  (AFP) - The collapse of a road bridge spanning the Mississippi river has thrown the spotlight onto America's aging infrastructure, with experts warning that billions must be spent to bring standards into line.
The American Society of Civil Engineers warned in a report two years ago that between 2000 and 2003, more than 27 percent of the nation's almost 600,000 bridges were rated as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
"It will cost 9.4 billion dollars a year for 20 years to eliminate all bridge deficiencies," the group said, adding that "long-term under-investment is compounded by the lack of a federal transportation program."
"America must change its transportation behavior, increase transportation investment at all levels of government, and make use of the latest technology," the society's wide-reaching "Report Card for America's Infrastructure" added.
The organization estimated that 1.6 trillion dollars were needed over a five-year period to categorize US infrastructure as in good condition.
"This really should be a wake up call for America," Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid told reporters in Washington. "We have infrastructure that is deteriorating and deteriorating."
Glenn Washer, an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said it was impossible to make bridges 100 percent safe.
"The only way to completely eliminate the risk is to not drive on bridges," he said, adding that Wednesday's accident would likely renew calls for more modern technology to be used in maintaining bridge safety.
"There is incredible technology out there to help monitor and diagnose problems, and we continue to develop new technologies to keep up with the infrastructure of bridges," he said. "This will bring new focus to that."
"But implementing some of the new technology and getting the work done is a significant challenge," he added.
Wednesday's deadly bridge collapse, which left four people dead and up to 30 missing, came just two weeks after an aging steam pipeline exploded in Manhattan, spewing hot vapor, mud and rock in the city's business district.
The explosion of the pipe, which was more than 80 years old, came as a stark reminder that much of the city's infrastructure is more than a century old.
New York also suffers from a creaking electrical grid that comes close to collapse when demand spikes during summer heat waves. Last year, tens of thousands were left without power for days on end.
But White House spokesman Tony Snow insisted Thursday that the country's infrastructure was regularly monitored, and was at pains to point out the unique nature of the bridge collapse in Minnesota.
"There's regular inspection of infrastructure around the United States constantly," he added. Bridges have to be inspected every two years and are listed on a national register.
"This is the sort of thing that is unprecedented. We certainly don't want people to believe that this is the rule rather than the exception," he told reporters in Washington.
Minnesota representative James Oberstar, chairman of the House of Representatives' Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told Fox News that the bridge was known to be in need of repairs.
"I know for a fact that the bridge has been listed as structurally deficient for several years," he said. "It was on their list of bridges to be fixed." He said that some 40 percent of the state's bridges were in need of repair.
"The state of Minnesota needs to make a major increase in its investment in infrastructure," he said, adding that authorities should either have closed the bridge or begun reconstruction work much earlier.