True North

So far only $57,862 has been claimed in lost wages and compensation for bridge victims, and there has not been a rush to sign up by the victims as a whole. There is a state law that caps the per incident liability to $1 million dollars in total, so no one will get rich off this.... that is unless a lawsuit takes place. And one is in the works.

ST. PAUL (AP) - Dozens of victims of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse - from surviving spouses to the parents of children riding on a yellow school bus - have filed preliminary paperwork to sue the state.

The documents, obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request, provide a glimpse into a brewing legal battle over the Aug. 1 disaster, which killed 13 and injured 145. They also offer the most detailed look yet into the financial burdens felt by the victims and their families.

The first legal deadline - requiring those injured to notify the state within 180 days - is coming up Sunday. Lawyers described the notices as a formality that may not even be necessary to sue later, but the number of notices indicate that many victims are contemplating their options in court.

DFL legislators have been pushing to set up a special compensation fund ever since the bridge collapsed. But I sure hope that since there is now a lawsuit pending or threatened, they back off on that. I feel terrible for the victims. I personally know half a dozen or so family or friends that were on the bridge at some point that day prior to the collapse. So I have some ability to imagine the loss should their travels have put them there that evening.

I wish there was something that could undo what happened, but there isn't. Life happens. There will be more tragedy in life for a whole host of us. I'm sorry, but it is a sad case. I hope that some day soon we actually start to talk about how to deal with this issue in a serious non-political way. We need to reform the priority scale in this state. I don't think roads and bridges should be after thoughts. I don't like how the only way a bridge or major project to get addressed is by a nasty bitter partisan stand off on a bonding bill every 2 years. Gas taxes are an unsustainable revenue source with increasing CAFE standards and the mandate for mass transit and the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax is being robbed to pay off mass transit pet projects.

Common wisdom for Republicans is that roads, bridges, and highways are only to be bonded for, but I have to disagree to a point. There has to be some spending from the general fund. It is silly to borrow all the money when we have a $35 billion budget we could use. Just imagine it transportation was treated like education which consumes half of the state budget plus biollions more through local funding. And we basically spend a few measly hundred million every 2 years to help 6.5 million people get around in their daily lives.

We're wasting money in St. Paul on stupid and unnecessary programs. If there is the threat of a lawsuit, there should be no special compensation fund. Frankly just about everyone in the Twin Cities is a victim of the collapse. Not by relation to someone who was on the bridge, but by the inconvenience of a main thourough fair from North to South for millions of Minnesotans.

The costs we are all paying to bypass the area and go around are hurting us all. Goods and services take longer. It takes and costs us all more to visit friends on the other side of the river as well as take in the nightlife and entertainment centered in downtown or elsewhere in the metro. I also believe that some of the more numerous accidents in the metro are from drivers unfamiliar with the detours, but I'm no traffic engineer, its just an observation from behind my steering wheel. I picked up my new truck on August 1st. I have put over 10,000 miles on it already, so trust me, I am out there on the roads, and there are people who don't have a clue where they are going.

I'm sorry, but there should be no special compensation for bridge victims if they will sue. Call it hush money, call it what ever you like, but just remember that it is citizens suing the government for an foreseen and likely unstoppable, accident. It is citizens who will pay the price.

Let's hope that reason and common sense prevail and that every Minnesotan, and most importantly Legislators and policy makers, realize that we have a huge transportation problem that can't be swept under the rug. The initial proposals in the bonding bill should be a rude awakening that the Governor hasn't gotten it yet.

Over a billion dollars requested in his bill, but only $255 million for roads and bridges. The rest goes to pork projects for higher ed and municipal welfare around the state.

There has to be a better way to deal with our transportation system, because the way we have been doing it for decades is a dismal failure.

Crossposted at Residual Forces, go there to comment