What’s The Difference…
By Mitch Berg
…between the 35W River Bridge and the Wakota Bridge?
Besides the whole falling over thing, I mean?
There’s actual evidence that MNDOT screwed up.
Khani Sahebjam, who heads the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s metro district, told legislators at a fact-finding hearing that the agency has set aside $50 million for the Interstate 494 bridge job. But he said there’s no assurance that contractors will submit bids anywhere close to that amount when the job is re-bid in January.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Sahebjam said.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” said Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-South St. Paul, who chaired the hearing. “I don’t think there’s going to be a bridge to cross.”
Goes to show you what trusting government will get you.
But before we go storming the MNDOT building with pitchforks and torches and demanding Carol Molnau’s head (not that it might not conceivably be called for), let’s remember – MNDOT was always Minnesota’s short-bus agency. They never had a good reputation, no matter who was governor. It’s something someone’s gotta fix, and it might as well be Pawlenty.
But watch the nattering class try to forget MNDOT’s catalogue of screwups before 2000…
