congress has been reluctant to financially commit to the more than $2.6 billion price tag for a brand new bridge. it s a hot topic in these parts. especially right here, at 55 krc, a local talk radio station. we re talking the bridge, how to pay for it. is it a problem? if you re a commuter that drives on it every day, my in studio guest today wants to know we have a huge one here that has national implications. there s no shortage of people who call into the morning show to complain about this bridge. it s falling apart, and it has no emergency shoulder. a fender bender away from carmagedon. it carries more than 160,000 cars a day, double what it was built to accommodate in 1963. mark, thank you for calling. welcome to the morning show. hi. thanks. i started out a quarter after seven this morning.
that s been the key issue. if it s critical, why doesn t the federal pay for it? this is one bridge and a very important bridge to anybody in our community, including myself but there are competing projects all over the country, and the federal government just doesn t have the resources to pay for all of them. the chairman argues there s a way to increase funding easily which would be to increase the gas tax. it hasn t happened since 199 3. what do you think about that? it s one of the things on the table and being considered. that tends to be a tax that hits people at lower income levels harder than anybody, so it s not something that i think is quite likely to happen any time in the near future. we can talk about it, but i don t think it s going to happen. he said the federal government has so far come up with $53 million for the bridge. around 2% of the cost of a new bridge. he expects additional money to come from a highway bill passed by congress in 2015. but before any mo
that s it? that s it. we could bond $500 billion. $500 billion. over the next 13 years. what s at stake? what s at stake is catastrophe. if the tunnels under the hudson fail, it will cost the economy $100 million a day in lost productivity. congestion, chaos, essentially. people are tired of it and they want to see action. raising the gas tax triggers fear on both sides of the aisle. even if it benefits an aged bridge in their own backyard like the one we visited in cincinnati. this republican has been representing cincinnati for more than two decades. what is your perception of the bridge? well, it needs to be replaced. it is probably our most critical infrastructure need. but the local communities have to come together. that means the state of kentucky, the state of ohio and other local folks involved have to come to an agreement on a specialty funding.
across that bridge with you. that s right. any time they want to get in here. [ laughter ] ? it s not just a local problem. the brent/spence bridge is part of interstate 75 and fear of failing is justified. mark, regional transportation advocate says it s one of the busiest freight corridors in the nation. he s working to get leaders to agree on funding a new bridge. explain to me the significance to the economy? it connects michigan to miami. a huge freight corridor. $450 billion worth of goods goes over the bridge every year. $450 billion goes over the bridge every year? more than a billion dollars a day. is there any way to quantify with the log jam does for that number? just under a billion dollars is wasted when it comes to time
quick reminder in a few weeks, i m heading on a book tour for my new book. facebook.com/all in with chris. events are filling up fast. more details soon. that is all, rachel maddow show starts right now. good evening. good evening. thanks my friend. and thanks for joining thus hour. happy monday. you know the airport that serves the seattle area is called it s not seattle airport, it s called sea-tac. the tac is tacoma, washington. it is an hour south and a little west from seattle. and tacoma is a big city. seattle has 650,000 people, tacoma has about 200,000 people. i love that part of the country, i love that part of the lovely state. but on july 1st, 1940, tacoma got a brand new bridge. a really important part of the infrastructure for that part of