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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Bridges on the Brink: Minnesota Better than Most

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Thursday, April 9, 2015   

MINNEAPOLIS - As Minnesota lawmakers debate differing plans over how much to spend on transportation and how to pay for it, a new study finds the state is in a better position than most when it comes to bridges.

The analysis, conducted by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), found 830 of Minnesota's bridges to be structurally deficient.

Alison Black, chief economist with the ARTBA, says that number comes to about 6.4 percent of all bridges in the state, compared to the nationwide rate of 10 percent.

"One thing to note about Minnesota," she says. "Compared to the number of deficient bridges last year, they moved over 256 bridges off that list. So there's obviously been a big effort in the state to address some of those challenges."

Black says a bridge is classified as structurally deficient if one of its key structural elements, like the deck, superstructure or substructure, is rated in poor condition or worse.

While Minnesota has been making progress in improving bridge infrastructure, Black says more could be done with adequate levels of federal funding. The national Highway Trust Fund suffered five revenue shortfalls between 2008 and 2014, and unless Congress acts, the latest extension of funds will expire on May 31.

"The issue is that there's a lack of political will in Congress to pass some sort of long-term sustainable increase in revenue to solve the situation with the Highway Trust Fund," says Black.

According to the report, about 6,100 bridges nationally are considered "structurally compromised." Many of those bridges are on Interstate highways, which carry the bulk of the nation's truck traffic and passenger vehicles.

The collapse of the I-35W overpass over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in 2007 resulted in the deaths of 13 people, and highlighted the need to ensure the nation's roads and bridges are structurally sound and safe for travel.


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