Very sad indeed with such a report in hand for 6 years and periodic updates and it happening none the less.

Quite a few years ago i read a report on the state of US roads and bridges and the tens of billions needed to bring them up to safety standards. Many a time an infrastructural plan is executed without the incorporation of sustained maintenance..... as always it's the juggle between finding the funding and finding the voters.

The Mont Blanc tunnel fire and new EU safety requirements has stopped a completion and opening of a 16 mile round about with several longer sections of tunneling for over 5 years here in the province. Life is priceless.

http://tinyurl.com/3x7xyr

That 8 lane bridge on the left is the one that went down.
If you zoom out a couple clicks and to the left, you can see how close this is to downtown Minneapolis proper.

Darn! That is scary!

It makes you wonder if China doesn't sometimes have the right idea - they executed the bureaucrat responsible for the tainted food and consumer products that resulted in several deaths (China food safety head executed

I hope that whoever is responsible at least gets some prison time.

**edited for profanity TKH**

Feds let states delay inspections of bad bridges
Loophole allows giving infrequent check-ups to spans in poor condition
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22300234/

Very very sad ... and what is more is this from few days ago NTSB investigators surprised by what they found