Our tax $$$ at work
 

Just returned from a trip to Vegas, where we took a Grayline tour to the Grand Canyon.
On the way, our driver told us about the security measures now in effect at Hoover Dam. No semis or buses with luggage in their compartments can cross the dam. All truck and bus traffic take a, I think she said, 200 mile detour. Our tax dollars are now paying for a new highway that will cross downriver from the dam. This, she stated, to avoid someone trying to blow up the dam with a truck bomb.
I'm all for "homeland security", but I can't help thinking our tax dollars could be better spent.

I guess they forgot that anyone who wants to blow up the dam can just float down the river with the bomb.

Are cars still able to cross the dam? If so, they should consider themselves lucky as the dam in our area has been permanantly sealed off post 9/11. It is a traffic nightmare since this dam was a major link to the downtown area. It has also diverted traffic through residential streets, impeded emergency response times and has become a topic for political folly.

I am ALL for better use of tax $$$, and given what I pay in taxes each year I curse tax day all year long, but I think you have to understand the importance of Hoover Dam to appreciate why the new bridge is being built.
Hoover Dam would cost several billion dollars if built from scratch today, and could cost >$1 billion to repair if heavily damaged by a terrorist truck bomb.
Hoover Dam supplies water for over 20 million people in the US, supplies water for over a million acres of cropland, and electricity for the needs of over 1 million people.
In terms of importance to the lives of American citizens, it is one of the most critical physical structures in the western USA which is publically accessible.
Building a new bridge will be expensive, but only a fraction of the cost of replacing a damaged Hoover.

Yes, they allow car traffic, tour buses without luggage,but our guide told us that if you show up at the check point hauling more than they have time to search, they turn you around for the long detour.
I do understand the importance of the dam, I just feel if someone wanted to blow it up, they could, regardless.

The "war on terror" will never be won by simply throwing money at it..but when you grew up doing that all your life, well....

So Ranger why don't you get involved with homeland security and tell Washington how to do it better?

I mean, you seem to understand so much better what needs to happen.

Look at the relative cost, how much would it cost to check each truck and the luggage on each bus that crosses the dam versus the cost of the new highway? Can you as a fact state that the cumulative cost of added security is less expensive then the highway? As stated, what's the financial impact of needing to repair the bridge in terms of cost and disruption to the water supply?

In terms of what we spend money on as a people, this is probably a mere pittance. We're about to spend $12 Billion to payoff tabacco farmers to NOT grow tabacco. (Ignoring the fact that $4billion of that money is estimated to go to non-US residents.)

According to a Wall Street Journal article yesterday, Congress slashed the Federal Judiciary budget by 7%. Know that that means? It means we will have FEWER parol officers to monitor convicted felons.

The fact is, we've allowed the system to get so far out of line, that this project, in the grand scheme of things means little.

I think we should turn over Internal Revenue and Inland Security to currently retired Enron execs -- they would do it so much better.

Wow, I find this criticism hard to swallow. To those who think this may be a waste of money, may I suggest that you watch a current special on HBO about the Yankees during 9/11. It brings back the emotion that seems to be waning 3 years later.

Hoover Dam is absolutely critical to protect, much like power, chemical and manufacturing plants.

I would be willing to bet that there is no way a boat gets close enough ala USS Cole style in this day and age.

Even if you don't agree with that, a new highway is needed there anyway. The place was a traffic jam way before 9/11.

Ah yes, here we have the textbook example of a popular theory today: If it doesn't benefit me, then it's a waste of taxpayer money.

Actually, the security concerns about Hoover Dam are only part of the reason for building this bypass. The fact is, the approaches to the dam are too curvy and narrow for the volume of traffic using the road, as well as for the much larger sizes of todays big trucks.

The initial studies and proposals for the bypass were done in 1998, long before 9-11, movement towards building the bridge was already underway, and the post 9-11 security concerns only hastened the project.

Ken

PS: Having been to both Hoover Dam and the even more massive Grand Coulee Dam (here in Washington State), I'm of the opinion that even a fully loaded 747 would simply bounce off these enormous structures in the same way that they would bounce off one of the pyramids. Having said that, the associated electrical stations could of course be much more easily damaged.

PS2 - Also, the road over the dam is 2 lanes and the new bridge will be 4 lanes to handle the increase in traffic that's occured since the dam was built. Apparently, even before the post 9-11 restrictions, the dam and it's approaches were somewhat of a bottleneck.

Ken

Howard, I love that and I'm going to make t-shirts. Sorry I stole the saying but I'll split the net revenues with you.

"If it doesn't benefit me :-D, it's a waste of taxpayer money!"

Allow me to paraphrase Ben Franklin:

A man who gives up his freedom for security has neither.

So Ann, having to use a detour is giving up our freedom?

Wow, we're getting soft.

Hey GoTravel, I'll just take a T-shirt as my royalty payment!

I hope Tom Ridge is monitoring this website to implement ideas for homeland security.

This is a different world folks, get used to it and quit complaining.

Ranger: Wouldn't Utopia be nice? It's a tough world out there and people need to understand that we are at war with Islamic fundemantalist who are trying to kill us and take the whole world back 1000 years. Women beware.

Hey, GoTravel, I want a bunch of those T-shirts and I'll give them out at the Senior Center next time they vote down a school or library referendum. We are talking well, well off and not willing to give much back at all. They'll take the shirts though, if they are free.

Selfishness and "softness" as stated is at a high level mark. Unawareness of the past prices and sacrifices others paid for the freedoms we have now, especially women's, is phenomenal. Women, we didn't even get to vote until 1921! Don't take it for granted. Coming from a Mediterranean culture, I personally know, what these belief systems "mean" in reality. Kudos, mgmargate, because you are absolutely right.

If you are going to quote Benjamin, read about his belief system. What his definition of "freedom" is may be very different from what you think of as "freedoms". All of our founding fathers thought very differently about personal "rights" then the present belief system about what constitutes personal "rights and freedoms."

Ranger, you are not "all for" homeland security. You don't really comprehend what guarding a water supply in manpower hours (not just for explosion, but for poisoning/tainting) constitutes.