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 (AP)  With tens of thousands of U.S. bridges
considered structurally deficient, Gary Bowen figures the
Minneapolis span that collapsed last week can't be the only one
with big problems. Joyce Davis isn't quite so worried.
      


The two were part of an Associated Press-Ipsos survey this week
in which majorities said that while the collapse signals a
nationwide safety problem, they have confidence in their own
communities' spans.

      The poll was released Thursday, even as President Bush signaled
resistance to congressional proposals to raise federal gasoline
taxes to finance widespread repairs. He accused lawmakers of
steering federal money to local projects before distributing the
money nationally.

      "That's not the right way to prioritize the people's money,"
Bush said at a news conference. "So before we raise taxes which
could affect economic growth, I would strongly urge the Congress to
examine how they set priorities."

      Bush's comments, eight days after the rush-hour disaster at the
Mississippi River crossing, could point toward a confrontation over
the idea when Congress returns from recess next month.

      Three out of four in the AP-Ipsos survey expressed at least some
confidence in the condition of bridges in their home state,
including three in 10 who said they were very confident. Yet by 55
percent to 42 percent, most said last week's disaster pointed to a
wider problem, not an isolated incident.

      "Somebody has to make it a priority, but everybody is pinching
their budgets," said Bowen, 46, a teacher from Perryville, Md.
"People don't understand that construction isn't forever. You have
to do maintenance or it will fall down eventually."

      The poll revealed political differences over how the Minnesota
bridge collapse was viewed.

      Democrats were likelier than Republicans to view it as
symptomatic of broader problems by a three-to-two margin, and were
also less likely to voice confidence in local bridges.

      In addition, those who approve of the job Bush is doing as
president were more than 20 points likelier than those who
disapprove of him to see last week's incident as an isolated one
and to voice confidence in their area spans.

      Men expressed slightly more confidence than women in the
condition of local bridges, and younger people were more confident
than older. Eight in 10 people from the South and West expressed
confidence, a bit more than did so from the Northeast and Midwest.

      There were similar divisions over whether the Minneapolis bridge
failure indicated a broader problem, with women and older people
likelier to see national implications than men and younger people.
People from the Northeast and from urban areas were also likeliest
to attach widespread significance to the downed bridge.

      "I guess I just have a little more faith in our engineers,"
said Davis, 45, a high school secretary from rural Otis, Colo., who
said she saw the Minnesota incident as an isolated one. "This kind
of happened out of the blue. I don't think it's the beginning of a
series of catastrophic events."

      Polls often show that people who acknowledge national problems
perceive them as being less severe in their own areas.

      Asked about the status of public works projects in their areas,
six in 10 rated the electrical, water and sewer systems in their
areas in excellent or good condition. Slightly fewer gave similar
high marks to public school buildings and bridges, and fewer still
gave good grades to area roads, and mass transit systems like
trains and buses.

      Some members of Congress of both parties have proposed boosting
the 18.3-cents-per-gallon federal levy to repair or replace some of
the 70,000 bridges considered structurally deficient.

      Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation
Committee, has proposed a 5-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax increase
for the work.

      Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the panel's former chairman, has also
suggested financing the work with a tax increase. But the panel's
top Republican, Rep. John Mica of Florida, criticized the idea as a
"knee-jerk reaction."

      In the Senate, Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the tax-writing
Finance Committee, hasn't taken a position on raising the gasoline
tax. Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the committee's senior Republican,
feels lawmakers should look first at whether existing federal money
could be better spent, said Grassley's spokeswoman, Jill Gerber.

      Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee, said in an interview with
the AP that she was writing a letter to Bush asking him to redirect
$2.1 billion in unspent Iraq reconstruction funds to emergency
repairs. She said if the president does not agree, she would pursue
the money using legislation.

      In the last $286 billion highway bill, about $24 billion, or 8
percent, went to highway and bridge projects selected by lawmakers.
The rest was distributed to states, which decide how to spend it.
Federal money accounts for about 45 percent of all public works
spending.

      The AP-Ipsos poll was conducted August 6 to 8 and involved
telephone interviews with 1,003 adults. The margin of sampling
error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.


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Three out of four in the AP-Ipsos survey expressed at least some
confidence in the condition of bridges in their home state.

Most in poll see national bridge safety problem but remain confident in local spans

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