I have always been scared of bridges

As a kid, I would freak out whenever we drove over a big bridge, especially high bridges over water, like most of the Hudson River bridges … the George Washington, the Tappan Zee, and especially the Bear Mountain Bridge …

On June 28, 1983, the Connecticut Turnpike Bridge over the Mianus River collapsed, sending cars and trucks seventy feet into the water and killing three people (the collapse happened at 1:30 am, or the toll would have been much higher). It turned out that repair crews had paved over the bridge drains, allowing water to leach into the bridge supports and rusting them. I grew up 23 miles from this bridge, I must have crossed it hundreds if not thousands of times in my life.

According to this 2005 report, 21% of all the bridges in the U.S. are structurally deficient and 14% are functionally obsolete. From the same report:

• Cost to Eliminate Current Deficiencies: $78 billion

• Average Annual Cost to Maintain Status Quo: $5.2 billion

• Average Annual Cost to Eliminate Existing and Accruing Deficiencies: $8.2 billion

• Estimated Current National Expenditures: $5.0 billion

• Estimated Cost of the Iraq War as of 8/5/2007: $449 billion

Why are my fears less rational than the fear of terrorists?

Technorati tags: Bridges, Infrastructure, Minneapolis I-35 bridge collapse, Mianus River Bridge collapse, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow