Jeff Stahler for September 16, 2021

It’s an old joke. But the reality is that whichever bidder it was there SHOULD have been a crew of engineers NOT working for that contractor whose job is to make sure the specifications are followed.

And the OTHER reality is that no matter how well constructed, bridges, roads, over- / under- passes traffic lights etc. etc. need periodic maintenance… and we have not been doing that because it’s not “sexy” AND it does cost money.

Only in the Qultservative privatized dreamland.

Who have the best political connections both with the elected officials and regulatory agencies.

That’s what you get when trying to do infrastructure on the cheap.

In Florida some years ago there was a stretch of Interstate 75 in Manatee County south of Tampa that was built by the lowest bidder…WHO HAD CONNECTIONS TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT. He used BEACH SAND in the concrete mix, and the road started to crumble BEFORE IT WAS OPENED, as salt is REALLY bad for concrete. After several years of patching and makeshift repairs, the entire thing had to be torn out and rebuilt by a COMPETENT CONTRACTOR!

Been lots of examples of failure to maintain in recent times. Traffic has increased in volume and weight at least tri-fold. Doesn’t seem to have moved anyone to change bridge test or maintenance schedules.

Like the I-35 W Mississippi river bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed back in 2007? The NTSB said the gussets were too thin.

The I-40 Bridge collapse SE of Webbers Falls OK in 2002. Looking on wiki just from 2000 to 2020 there are lots of bridges, buildings and damns that collapsed all over the world from shoddy construction

Entropy always wins.

There are many more ways things can fall apart than there are ways they can come together.

your car also

What should we do, give contracts to the highest bidder? It’s easy to complain, not so easy to provide a solution.

The lowest bidder thing is STUPID. Even if they build something that doesn’t fall apart, there are always cost overruns to get the project finished.

An old friend who was in the public contract bidding process told me that he followed the exact specs and bid the lowest margin price that he could and still make some profit. When he displayed the first model built to spec, the agency was often dissatisfied with their result and gave him revised specs that included those things he would have told them were needed in the original.

The old joke about the space program. Building the most complicated machines ever attempted by man and it went to low bidder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqvYOqB0LuE

fusilier, repeating himself

James 2:24

I’m waiting for the PRC’s infrastructure to come tumbling down.

That high bidder builds the same bridge.. has more money to buy off inspectors and skims off more profit. Qualified workers also make a difference.

$1.2 trillion for actual infrastructure – roads, bridges, trains, clean water, power grids, internet access, etc. – and another $2.5 trillion for things that have nothing to do with roads, bridges, trains, water, power grids, etc..

Could you imagine your healthcare going to the lowest bidder? Your next surgery subject to bidding?

" I’m not worried. It’s been repainted to cover up the rust and cracks" – Bridge inspectors for Alabama.

“Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.”

Murphy’s Laws of Combat, #12.

https://www.military-quotes.com/murphy.htm

But, it’s replacing one built 100 Years ago by the lowest bidder.

Welcome to Capitalism; the worst service and workmanship Private Enterprise can get away with, at the maximum price.

The difference between a Government-Built Bridge and a Private Industry Built Bridge is that the government bridge will be built by the lowest competent and reputable bidder, while a Private Industry will be built by the absolute lowest, sleaziest, disreputable and possibly criminal bidder possible.