On the Laval Bridge Collapse
The history of engineering projects teaches us that improvements are made slowly over time, but that intermittent catastrophic failures result in rapid improvements.
The situation in Laval is not an example of engineering failure. The bridge stood for 36 years. The problem was in inspection and maintenance. The government of Quebec has called a public inquiry to determine the cause... I don't think they are going to like the result, if they allow it to come to an honest result.
The problem is that governments in Canada (and elsewhere) love spending capital to build infrastructure. It gets them votes. They then fail to properly pay for maintenance, thus the condition of much of the country's roads and bridges. They do this because they get better political results from spending money on social programs and new infrastructure.
In the coming days and weeks you will hear local politicians blame the provinces for failing to fund properly, and provincial politicians blaming Ottawa for failing to fund properly.
The truth is, it is the municipalities and provinces who have failed to choose to spend enough on maintenance (or on not using salt to destroy infrastructure). They chose to spend it on other things. And as voters we let them do it. I wouldn't be surprised if across the country a significant number of bridges are closed in the coming weeks/months due to increased inspections.
The situation in Laval is not an example of engineering failure. The bridge stood for 36 years. The problem was in inspection and maintenance. The government of Quebec has called a public inquiry to determine the cause... I don't think they are going to like the result, if they allow it to come to an honest result.
The problem is that governments in Canada (and elsewhere) love spending capital to build infrastructure. It gets them votes. They then fail to properly pay for maintenance, thus the condition of much of the country's roads and bridges. They do this because they get better political results from spending money on social programs and new infrastructure.
In the coming days and weeks you will hear local politicians blame the provinces for failing to fund properly, and provincial politicians blaming Ottawa for failing to fund properly.
The truth is, it is the municipalities and provinces who have failed to choose to spend enough on maintenance (or on not using salt to destroy infrastructure). They chose to spend it on other things. And as voters we let them do it. I wouldn't be surprised if across the country a significant number of bridges are closed in the coming weeks/months due to increased inspections.
posted by Technical Bard | 09:10
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