Not saying I disagree necessarily but fwiw the weather in Texas is quite easier on infrastructure than in PA. Texas also hasn't seen the industry woes that other states have in the past century. And just because Texas has the most bridges of any state doesn't detract from the fact that Pittsburgh still has its own high number of bridges.
I'd also wonder about the level of diligence applied to detecting and reporting such problems in Texas. How many of the bridges in Texas are really in better than poor condition?
So Pennslyvania's clearly got a problem, but Pittsburg (and the state on the whole) gets more rain and far more snow and ice, so even if they were the same age, it doesn't really seem comparable.
Most bridges in Texas are less than 40 years old and 38% are less than 20 years old. This bridge was 50 years old and many bridges in Pittsburg are similarly old.
Coincidentally, bridges have a 50-75 year lifespan. It's probably on the lower end in areas with tons of cold weather, salt and ice. Texas has less deteriorating weather in general. Hence the whole "northern cars turn to rust buckets" meme.
Also, this corresponds to Pittsburg's heyday being 50 years ago.
Could you please omit swipes from your comments here? You're making a good point and the swipe spoils it.
On HN, we want curious conversation in which people are thoughtful and respectful toward each other. The idea is to collaborate in figuring out the truth together. I know it often seems like other people don't care about that, but a lot of this is an artifact of the medium, because internet comments lack the out-of-band signals that we normally rely on to evaluate other people's intentions.
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