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Bridge to Kennedy Space Center Needs Replacement; Florida Representatives Ask for More Cash for SLS

Accepted submission by takyon at 2018-04-14 21:14:18
Techonomics

A bridge linking the Kennedy Space Center to the mainland needs replacement [floridatoday.com]:

In fast-track fashion, traffic engineers hope to finish design work on a future replacement State Road 405 bridge across the Indian River by January 2021.

The aging bridge serves as a critical corridor linking the mainland with Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station — and the bridge must shoulder heavyweight spacecraft payloads and similar freight.

But by 2021, the drawbridge could prove unsafe for spacecraft and other heavy cargo, a NASA engineering study determined. Bridge replacement could cost $140 million — and no construction funding has been earmarked yet, said Bob Kamm, Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization executive director.

Traffic in and around the Kennedy Space Center has increased massively [floridatoday.com] in recent years.

Congressmen want more money [floridatoday.com] to upgrade the facilities at Kennedy Space Center, as well as to throw at the Space Launch System and Orion projects:

A letter sent last month by U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, the Rockledge Republican who sits on the House Space Subcommittee, and co-signed by 10 other members of Florida's delegation, urges $557 million for the exploration ground systems improvements in the 2019 federal budget, and another $17 million for other construction. It also calls for $150 million in 2019 to build a new mobile launcher that could support the SLS rocket for 40 years, a recent NASA policy direction change from plans now seen as problematic to retrofit the current mobile launcher. The letter also calls for another $2.15 billion for the SLS rocket development, and $1.35 billion for the final Orion crew vehicle development.


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