Fear Factor: State needs to scare up funds for risky bridges

Dallas Morning News | Editorials:

“Take this alternative idea to scare up proper support for transportation: Post signs at the edge of each legislative district that would say, for example, 'Now entering the district of state Sen. Foghorn Leghorn, home to 23 structurally deficient bridges.' ”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Public scorn can accomplish good, but it's easy for it to get out of control and demean public discourse. Not to worry, though. Legislators are never going to fund a program that targets themselves for such scorn.

Instead, the public needs to keep up a steady insistence on funding and repairing America's decaying infrastructure. But I don't expect that to happen, either. Spend money on maintenance? Americans are even more likely to complain about lane closures and traffic diversions for roadworks than they are to complain about the potholes that signal the need for such maintenance. And raise taxes to do it? Legislators who push such a course won't be in the legislature long. Legislators know that newspapers like The Dallas Morning News will soon forget the looming threat... at least until the next bridge collapses. Or levee fails. Remember that one? Think back. Way back about... two years. The public's attention span is short.