[TylerE]

Something like 20% of the bridges in this country are 10 years or more past their design lifetime and mostly not due to be replaced any time soon. You think they're keeping on top of painting every one? Saying preventing corrosion is as easy as slapping on paint is like saying computer security is as easy as not leaking your password. There are a million things that could happen, many of which are outside what any single person could control.

[Gare]

I don't know in what poor country you live, but in my country bridges are well maintained and I don't recall a single critical failure. Even though we're one of the poorest EU countries.

[TylerE]

https://infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/bridges-infras...

"There are more than 617,000 bridges across the United States. Currently, 42% of all bridges are at least 50 years old, and 46,154, or 7.5% of the nation’s bridges, are considered structurally deficient, meaning they are in “poor” condition. Unfortunately, 178 million trips are taken across these structurally deficient bridges every day. In recent years, though, as the average age of America’s bridges increases to 44 years, the number of structurally deficient bridges has continued to decline; however, the rate of improvements has slowed. A recent estimate for the nation’s backlog of bridge repair needs is $125 billion. We need to increase spending on bridge rehabilitation from $14.4 billion annually to $22.7 billion annually, or by 58%, if we are to improve the condition. At the current rate of investment, it will take until 2071 to make all of the repairs that are currently necessary, and the additional deterioration over the next 50 years will become overwhelming."

[tharkun__]

I don't know in what rich poor EU country you live, but in my "rich country" bridges are basically left to their own devices until a critical problem occurs and then they hastily start repairing it. In some cases they've been repairing bridges for decades that way. Some have recently finally actually been replaced or are being replaced. But nobody is going out and replacing a bridge that isn't on the brink of collapse and held up by "essentially duct tape".

[iamacyborg]

Now do a quick internet search for “hammersmith bridge”.

[gpderetta]

Which is a shame as it is otherwise a beautiful bridge.

[smegsicle]

maybe they wouldn't be so poor if they didn't waste all their money on infrastructure maintenance

[wizzwizz4]

What else is a country supposed to spend money on‽ Transportation, utilities, healthcare, bureaucracy, government: a country is its infrastructure.