Patch and Pray

Occam’s Razor is a theory that states that the simplest solution/answer is probably the correct solution/answer. We tend to forget the simple truth when grappling with disaster and look for complexity where, perhaps, none exists.

A bridge collapsed last night in Minnesota, and person after person after person is asking how this could happen, especially during rush hour, as if it were a planned occurrence. Occam’s Razor goes to the heart of the answer: when the bridge was built in the 1960s, there was probably 1/4 of the number of automobiles on the road that there are in 2007. The bridge was built to carry the current traffic at the time it was built, as well as projected increases in traffic over time, but did anyone project the volume of traffic on the bridge in 2007, estimated at 175,000 vehicles, including large commercial trucks, every day of every year?

I doubt it; therefore, the bridge collapsed after 40 years of good and faithful service that far exceeded its ability to sustain. That the collapse occurred to this bridge at this time is simply fate. The list of bridges and freeway overpasses being utilized far beyond the capability of the original structure grows with each passing year, and it is inevitable that there will be more structural failures, more fatalities, and more miraculous survival stories from those who are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It used to be that most families had a family car, and it was a vehicle shared by however many individuals comprised the family unit. It was a functional piece of family equipment and used for business reasons: work, shopping, vacation. Today, it is common for each individual in a family to have his/her own vehicle and to drive that vehicle daily, including newly-licensed teen drivers motoring a mile to school each day. Thus, a family of 5 that used to rely on one vehicle to meet the family needs now may literally have 3-5 vehicles on the road at any given time. I doubt that anyone projected the current situation could exist when transportation infrastructures were being built back in the 1950s-1980s!

Huge freeways were built during the 1960s, 70s, 80s in the greater Los Angeles metropolis to meet both current and projected needs—and before a freeway could officially open, it was already close to inadequate to handle the increased traffic. I can remember driving on the freeway systems in California when it wasn’t bumper-to-bumper traffic. I can remember when highways with 2 lanes in both directions were adequate, when 3 lanes in both directions were luxurious, and now 4-6 lanes in both directions cannot handle the daily volume of traffic. I can remember when I could count the number of commercial trucks on the freeways as the majority of goods came on the railroads and were off-loaded onto local delivery trucks. Today, at least in LA, the 2 right lanes are primarily devoted to the huge tractor trailers transporting goods from point of origin to the marketplace.

There is limited mass transit available to meet the basic needs of citizens not just to go to and from work, but to entertainment venues, leisure-time activities, and personal shopping; therefore, people are in their cars, driving the freeways, 24/7. Individuals in CA who cannot find work locally to support household expenses often have to find housing within a radius of 35-50 miles one way, which means an additional 2-3 hours every day spent traveling across freeway over-passes that simply were not constructed to meet the increased needs 30-50 years later!

It is inevitable that these structures are going to collapse, and sometimes that collapse will occur during rush hour, and it will be tragic, but it is not hard to understand why it happens. What is difficult to accept is that this condition exists in our infrastructures and we are not addressing it with specific on-going projects to rebuild/replace these aging, inadequate structures. We don’t patch the roof when it doesn’t rain, and we don’t rebuild what’s already in place until it collapses.

We just patch and pray.