HEN'S TEETH, MODOT DATA: TRY PULLING THEM

A couple of weeks ago, The Associated Press moved a bundle of stories about deficient bridges around the nation. Missing from the vast reporting project was a comprehensive list of problem bridges.

Although AP has the resources to compile such a list, it chose not to. And if it had tried, it would have quickly learned that a national list may not even exist or is too old to be relevant.

Meanwhile, staff writer Mark Bliss of the Southeast Missourian pressed the Missouri Department of Transportation for a list of deficient bridges in Cape Girardeau County and three adjoining counties. It took days, but a complete list was finally provided.

This is the ongoing record of MoDOT: Requests for specific information get caught up in a vast bureaucratic scramble. That's not good if you're asking taxpayers for millions of dollars to spend.