According to the Congressional Record upwards to 70,000 of our bridges are structurally deficient and need to be replaced or fixed
It’s been estimated that every month in America enough pedestrians are killed to fill a jumbo jet. Many of these deaths could have been prevented by proper sidewalks and crosswalks…
One of every five miles of American roads is not up to safety standards.
20 percent of our roads not up to safety standards. This is our situation today.
At a time that America needs jobs, Congress can’t get its act together to fund the necessary repairs. We can find money to pay for major rebuilding in Iraq, Afghanistan and pay billions to Pakistan to hide and shelter terrorists, hundreds of millions to Egypt to repress its citizens, but no money to fix roads, repair bridges and replace or patch sidewalks.
Some 2 million Americans could be put back to work on rebuilding our crumbing, structurally deficient infrastructure.
“Why can’t we get our priorities straight”, says Mack Dugan of Charlotte, an unemployed construction worker. “We spend and waste all kinds of money overseas on unnecessary wars, but can’t spend money fixing the roads. It doesn’t make any sense”, he said.
“We have real problems here in Charlotte”, said Pat Lawson of Charlotte, a structural engineer.
Rotting pipe. Crumbling concrete. Bridges that need repair. At the moment, those kind of worries probably don't keep you up at night, according to one WBTV report: “Charlotte has a hidden problem” http://www.wbtv.com/story/14336959/charlotte-has-a-hidden-problem?clienttype=printable
It is time to get the job done and put America back to work.
Robert Tilford
Charlotte, N.C.
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