jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Do any of you live near the bridge that just collapsed in PA? It was rated "unsafe" as far back as 2011, which is not unusual, I'm afraid. Every time I cross a bridge, I wonder if I will get to the other side. A GPS will let you avoid tolls and Interstates. Maybe they should let you avoid bridges too.

(I suspect this will be moved before long. )

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

I saw that on the news this morning You can avoid bridges but your sure are limited to where you go
I don't know if there is a law on soon repairs should be done after the Unsafe rating is given, but unsafe can be as simple as repairing guard rails.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

The collapsed bridge is on the other side of the Commonwealth from me, about 300 miles west of here. Part of the problem is, Pennsylvania owns way too many roads. PA owns more state roads than New England, New York and New Jersey combined. That's way, way too many roads and bridges for PaDot to maintain.

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Although I'm now a neighbor orf yours, I'm a Pittsburgher, a graduate of Carnegie Institute of Technology, not far from that bridge. I'm not familiar with the bridge but I must have crossed it hundreds of times.

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Further, when I was at Carnegie Tech I would travel Forbes Avenue to visit my girlfriend at her hospital as a student nurse in Wilkinsburg. Tech was west of Frick Park and Wilkinsburg to the east. Well, I made it across and we have been married 63+ years!

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

It’s hard to go anywhere in Pittsburgh without crossing a bridge. There are so many ravines, creeks and rivers.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

We have a bridge over I10 in Lake Charles that has needed replacing for many years. It is still not funded. It will take a horrible accident to get something done, I guess. I don't use that bridge unless I don't have a choice.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Maybe what happened in Pittsburgh will spur some action.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

I've been over that bridge a few times and I agree with you.

hdlenscap Loc: N. California

Congratulations!!!

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Used that bridge a lot. I lived in Pittsburgh when it was built. Moved away in '82. Walked over it on the way to Pitt from Squirrel Hill.

I should note that Pittsburgh was a steel city. Big steel mills along the river. They went out of business I think in the '70s. Cleaned up the air a lot after that. The city didn't own snow plows. They used salt trucks. If your car rusted out you would keep the steel mills in business by buying another one.

We had no problem with mosquitoes in Pittsburgh in the '60s. After I moved away I heard that they were coming back. Apparently the open water bodies were too acidic from the steel mill exhalations to support mosquito larvae.

Pittsburgh is pretty hilly. Another problem they had was the streams that ran down the valleys between the hills. About every 3-4 years a few houses would get washed away. They just rebuilt them in the same places.

If you want to get a feeling for how hilly it is, look at a map of NYC, then a map of DC, then a map of Pittsburgh. NYC is a linear grid. DC is a radial grid. Pittsburgh is a can of worms. As an example, I lived near Monitor St. Monitor St began on Beechwood Blvd. It ended on Beechwood Blvd. It crossed Beechwood Blvd. It was about 3 blocks long. Downtown, fifth avenue crossed sixth avenue.

On the plus side, Pittsburgh was a cultural city. Lots of theaters and concert venues. If you fly into Pittsburgh you take a car from the airport and just before you get to the city there's a tunnel through one of the hills. At the end of the tunnel the view opens up of the city in all its glory. I believe it's now more high tech industries than things like steel.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

My company built the VMEbus real time computer that was on the the robot that went down into Mount Ararat, so I spent a fair amount of time in Pittsburg at Carnegie Mellon, and it’s a cool city. Once the steel mills closed, they literally cleaned up the city and scrubbed the buildings. The building where they built the robot at Mellon Institute was exactly what every techno nerd dreams of - professors mentoring small groups of students doing everything from writing code to welding. I stood there thinking that I wish I had gone to school there - really looked like fun.

JerryOSF Loc: Bristol, VA

There is no money left. It has already been spent and then some. What is the current national debt?

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

If your house is falling down around you and you don't have any money, what do you do? Move someplace else? I don't consider that an option in this case. You allot money to fix your house. If you have no disposable income that means borrowing.

And I should point out that the national debt is not comparable to personal debt. If you have personal debt, the lender can repossess something you have borrowed against. The national debt can be fixed by printing money (a solution not available to the average person). Of course that produces inflation, but that's nothing new.

JerryOSF Loc: Bristol, VA

Let the Grandkids pay for it!