THE STATE OF MINNESOTA WAS WELL
AWARE THEIR BRIDGE WAS UNSAFE

From the Daily Kos:

Internal MnDOT documents reviewed by the Star Tribune reveal that last year bridge officials talked openly about the possibility of the bridge collapsing -- and worried that it might have to be condemned.

The documents provide the first look inside MnDOT's decision-making process as engineers weighed benefits and risks, wrestling with options to prevent what they believed was a remote but real possibility of the eight-lane freeway bridge failing.

More here.

Back at the beginning of the month I jumped on the bandwagon, took a leap of faith, whatever, and strongly asserted that the disaster was ultimately the result of twelve years of conservative rule. That is, the right-wing maxim "government is the problem" almost always manifests itself in terms of dismantling important government agencies and programs. You know, like the ones that rebuild interstate bridges and stuff. As Kos observes, lack of money is the most likely reason that Minnesota officials sat on this damning info.

But isn't there federal money granted to the states specifically for maintaining the interstate system? Well, yeah, but there's a whole lot less since the Republicans have been running the country. Know what I'm saying?

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