After Wednesday's tanker accident on Detroit's I-75, which led to the collapse of the 9 Mile Road overpass, a MDOT representative made clear today that the overpass will not be salvaged, and an emergency $84,000 contract was awarded for the demolition of the remainder of the overpass. As for the I-75 pavement below, it had not been made clear whether it will need replacement or resurfacing.
The loan dissenter on the Environment and Public Works Committee, Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), was also the co-sponsor of an amendment to shorten the extension to 12 months, which failed in an 8 to 11 vote. This is the first step toward an official railroading of surface transportation reauthorization until 2011.
The July issue of Rebuilding America's Infrastructure magazine is now live, online, for your reading pleasure. In this issue you'll find an RAI Exclusive about the new options for finding funding for projects, as well as a Project Spotlight about Seattle's troubled Alaskan Way Viaduct, and more. Enjoy!
Huh? As noted before on the RAI NewsBlog, the Obama Administration promised unprecedented transparency with Recovery.gov, but other than basic information and press releases (read: spin), the site hasn't come close to fulfilling that promise. Good thing the General Services Administration found a cool $18 million to revamp the sucker. Credit for the quick push could go to the folks at Onvia, who produce Recovery.org. Cheers. It'll be easy to criticize this spending, especially because the digital apparatus for tracking the stimulus already exists thanks to the private sector, but let's see where this one goes. Better late than never?
