Marathon Pundit: North Side Chicago's Obama stimulus "campaign sign"

Earlier today AP issued a report that little of Barack Obamas's $787 billion ~~economic stimulus~~ boondoggle has been spent on fixing old bridges. The poor condition of many of our bridges was used to panic-peddle the stimulus bill during the early days of the Obama presidency.

Tens of thousands of unsafe or decaying bridges carrying 100 million drivers a day must wait for repairs because states are spending stimulus money on spans that are already in good shape or on easier projects like repaving roads, an Associated Press analysis shows.

President Barack Obama urged Congress last winter to pass his $787 billion stimulus package so some of the economic recovery money could be used to rebuild what he called America's "crumbling bridges." Lawmakers said it was a historic chance to chip away at the $65 billion backlog of deficient structures, often neglected until a catastrophe like the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed two years ago this Saturday.

States, however, have other plans. Of the 2,476 bridges scheduled to receive stimulus money so far, nearly half have passed inspections with high marks, according to federal data. Those 1,123 sound bridges received such high inspection ratings that they normally would not qualify for federal bridge money, yet they will share in more than $1.2 billion in stimulus money.

Obama

Marathon Pundit

Friday, July 31, 2009

North Side Chicago's Obama stimulus "campaign sign"

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