The collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis has resulted in the normal media frenzy: interviews with victims and those who made valiant attempts to rescue those caught in the disaster. Just as usual are the plethora of post event stories about America's crumbling infrastructure including calls for the immediate inspections of bridges by political leaders who want to be ahead of the news curve.

The big question is whether after two weeks' worth of stories, will anything have changed when it comes to the dismal state of our nation's infrastructure? Probably not.

The fact is that America's bridges have had serious problems for years. Last week's news may have reminded New Yorkers of the Thruway bridge collapse in 1987. As now, there were calls for massive inspections and upgrades, with minimal funding being made available to make those crossings safer after 10 people lost their lives.

One doesn't have to look far to see how short the attention span of leaders (and frankly the people they represent) is. For example, as the nation suffers weeks of heat waves, one can still only wonder about what was not done, in the wake of the 2003 power outage that struck the Northeast.

So why don't such upgrades get done?

First, bridge upgrades and other infrastructure improvements aren't sexy. They are not great photo ops for local and regional political leaders. Until there is a crisis, they are likely not on the funding radar screen (the Haiti Island Bridge in Mentz has been in question since the early 1990s - more than a decade and a half ago - but hasn't been replaced).

Instead, localities send their federal and state leaders lists of new projects that they want (new roads, new buildings, new anything) while not replacing the old. Federal money in the form of block grants come to states from Washington via the United States Department of Transportation - but often it is projects to create new arteries and extensions that allow ribbon cuttings not girder replacement and stabilization.

And while it is easy to blame Albany and Washington, let's remember that local leaders would rather have their projects incrementally move up the state and Federal priority lists, instead of going to their local taxpayers for the full shot.

So, six months from now, will anyone but locals remember last week's bridge collapse? Don't bet on a rush of federal and state funds to make sure such a tragedy is prevented again in the nation.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com