TO THE EDITOR:

I have just returned from Nicaragua. They are experiencing rolling blackouts throughout their country because the conservative governments of the last fifteen years had failed to maintain their electrical utilities infrastructure. They had hoped to privatize it and make it someone else problem. The end result is that the cost to repair or replace much of the infrastructure is cost-prohibitive.

Minnesotans also appear to be a victim of the policies of its conservative leadership which has opposed increasing the gas tax so that our roads and bridges could be properly maintained. Carol Molnau, the Republican legislator and Commissioner of Transportation stated that it would take a 37 cents gasoline tax increase to fix the system, yet she opposed even a 5 cent increase which Governor Pawlenty echoed. While she said she would not intentionally put anyone at risk, she ignored the recommendations of a 2006 bridge inspection report of the I-35W bridge that had called for reinforcing the fatigued fractured and cracked trusses on this bridge,  the most driven over bridge in the state and one that had been classified as "structurally deficient." Instead she asked the consultant to draft new, less costly recommendations. They were to do nothing to the trusses and continue to monitor the situation.

Well, after the collapse, we know this was an unwise decision. I believe it was an unwise decision even before the collapse and that Carol Molnau should resign as Commissioner of MN-DOT. Hopefully we will learn from this tragedy and our state will pass both a 10 cents a gallon tax increase, link the tax directly to the cost of gasoline (so that major oil companies are not making record profits at the risk of our safety), and provide separate emergency funding for both the replacement of the I-35W bridge and updated "risk" analysis of the state of our bridge and roadway system. We also should support public transit as one way to reduce the traffic on our bridges and roadways.

Robert G. Walz
North Branch