→ The Seattle Times: ‘Miracles’: 3 survive I-5 collapse
A chunk of Interstate 5 collapsed into the Skagit River near Mount Vernon on Thursday evening, dumping two vehicles into the icy waters and creating a gaping hole in Washington state’s major north-south artery.
Rescuers pulled three people with minor injuries from the water after the collapse, which authorities say began when a semitruck with an oversized load struck a steel beam at around 7 p.m.
That caused a massive piece of the northern side of the bridge to wobble, and then fall into the water, taking with it a gold pickup, its travel trailer and an orange SUV.
But actually, our infrastructure crisis is a myth…
→ Bloomberg: The Myth of the Falling Bridge
Maybe it’s going too far to say, “The U.S. is doing just fine, thank you very much.” The nation would benefit from reordering its infrastructure priorities — away from new highways, for example, where we are already overbuilt and usage is falling for the first extended period on record. And we’d do well to take advantage of low interest rates and idle construction resources to knock out all of our future infrastructure needs.
But the idea that the U.S. has an infrastructure crisis? No. A broad, permanent increase in spending is unwarranted.
→ Sharing time: Tracking the ‘sharrow’ on city streets [
→ Apartments, stores planned on Loyola Avenue near Superdome [
