infrastructure its about time

INFRASTRUCTURE ITS ABOUT TIME

when i think of infrastructure i think of bridges

the two bridges that i think about are two bridges that i have driven over more than once
you know when you go somewhere and pass over a bridge you then have to turn around and drive back over that bridge

these two bridges always made me uncomfortable when i drove over them

thank goodness now that ive moved to california i wont ever have to drive over them again

one bridge that gave me the heebie jeebies  was driving over the i40 bridge over the mississippi river
it goes on for a long long time and you can look down at the mississippi river flowing underneath you
its a feeling you get when the airplane makes a noisy bumpy landing
you dont feel safe until the plane is on the ground

you dont feel safe until you get across the river
then
you remember you have to go back the way you came

this bridge got a big ole crack on it that got missed by inspectors
old pictures show that crack had been there a long time before the inspectors discovered it

cant you just imagine what it would be like if that bridge sheered off into the mississippi river

it was closed for months before it was repaired
i wonder how folks got across the river all those months

then
i heard that that truck shown in the picture above was seen parked where the bridge was repaired

i dont know but thats one use of duct tape that doesnt make me feel good

then
the other bridge is the i10 bridge in baton rouge
ive gone over that one a few times going from austin to new orleans
never have i gone over it when the traffic wasnt backed up 
what a mess

i hear plans are in the works to replace that one

other things in the bill are
there is funding for

road bridges and other infrastructure projects

transits and rails
man we are years behind the rest of the world on this one

broadband upgrades
this one is important for rural communities
been there done that 

upgrading airports ports and waterways

electric cars
we need to be ready for these
i still cant imagine how those plug ins are going to work for those thousands of cars on the roads as folks drive cross country

improving power and water systems
we saw the power grids fail last winter in texas and our water systems need cleaned up 
we probably have a lot of flint michigans not discovered yet

environmental remediation
i doubt that any of us dont live near a pollution dump of some sort

our approach in the past is like having a new car and never doing any maintenance on it but instead waiting till it breaks down on you one day then paying for an expensive new motor

we are decades behind getting this done
the last several presidents have had this on their agenda but never could get it done
this is and should be a bipartisan issue

we should have been doing infrastructure regularly like car maintenance 
we havent been doing it though
so now
we are paying a high price to fix it

i must say
its about time

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the organicgreen doctor