Archive for the ‘highway’ Category

One of the great things about our job is that we get to read all about cars. And, often, some of the peripheral topics too. Like bridges.

In fact, we get to read things like Better Roads magazine, which serves "governments and construction contractors involved in...highway, road and bridge construction, winter maintenance, roadside and vegetation management and other highway-related projects." Vegetation management, woohoo!

The magazine has just released its annual survey of America's bridges. And the news is, errrr, not good.

A "shockingly high number"--25.7 percent--of America's 598,000 bridges are  either structurally deficient or...

The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) recently conducted a study on traffic accidents and fatalities, which reveals that over half of the deaths that occur on America's roadways can be blamed on poor road conditions. Moreover, the expense of those accidents--fatal or not--cost come at a cost of $217 billion, much of which is shouldered by U. S. taxpayers.

That $217 billion total breaks down as follows: "$20 billion in medical costs; $46 billion in productivity costs; $52 billion in property damage and other resource costs; and $99 billion in quality of life costs which measure the value of pain, suffering, and loss of...

Every now and then, one of our posts sparks a nice online discussion. Typical topics: the fate of General Motors after the government bailout, whether hybrid cars are for conscientious citizens or effete wimps ... and, of course, taxes.

Yesterday, we asked GreenCarReports.com readers to weigh in on a challenge facing the funders of highway and bridge repair all across the country. The problem is that as average gas mileage rises, less gasoline will be bought, so gas tax revenue will fall.

That means less money to keep our roads, bridges, and highways in good repair. And as you may have noticed, some of them aren't in great shape to start...