National Journal: What's It Going to Take, an Earthquake?

There are some 150,000 bridges in need of repair in the United States, according to the Department of Transportation. Last week's 5.8 magnitude earthquake sent engineers out to inspect many of them along the East Coast to ensure their safety, a prescient reminder that bridge and road solidity can't be taken for granted forever. "This is insanity. We can't rely on earthquakes to make us take a closer look at our bridges and roads, and we certainly shouldn't be in a situation where structural issues in 100-year-old bridges are going unnoticed," said Laborers' International Union of North America General President Terry O'Sullivan.

If an earthquake won't get peoples' attention, how about a Sept. 30 deadline? LIUNA and other transportation groups are sounding the alarm that without congressional action to reauthorize surface transportation funding, hundreds of thousands of job could be in jeopardy and the safety of the roads and bridges in question. "Without reauthorization, projects will have to be dramatically slowed, with a moratorium on new projects, because the state cannot carry federal-aid projects on its own," said Kentucky Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials notes that Congress will only meet for 11 legislative days before the 18.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax expires, leaving the highway trust fund without any inflow.

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