Yes, but the tension is that you can't always reinforce the bridge.
There are a lot of contingencies that need to be satisfied to be able to do that, some about the bridge, some about the environment (people, resources, conviction, interest, etc) around the bridge.
And among those environmental contingencies, because they're so numerous and imprecise, the failing bridge increasingly invites people advocating to just accelerate retirement of the bridge on their preferred terms, towards their preferred replacement.
Ultimately, there is some point of no return, where you can no longer reasonably expect anybody to be able to gather enough resources to repair the bridge as it stands, even though it still hasn't spontaneously collapsed just yet.
It's very hard to know where you are on this progression though, and for many people, they don't have much effective potency in doing anything about it anyway. Hence, they just kinda get by and hope that they still have some way to cross the river tomorrow, with the inkling sense that they very well may not.
There are a lot of contingencies that need to be satisfied to be able to do that, some about the bridge, some about the environment (people, resources, conviction, interest, etc) around the bridge.
And among those environmental contingencies, because they're so numerous and imprecise, the failing bridge increasingly invites people advocating to just accelerate retirement of the bridge on their preferred terms, towards their preferred replacement.
Ultimately, there is some point of no return, where you can no longer reasonably expect anybody to be able to gather enough resources to repair the bridge as it stands, even though it still hasn't spontaneously collapsed just yet.
It's very hard to know where you are on this progression though, and for many people, they don't have much effective potency in doing anything about it anyway. Hence, they just kinda get by and hope that they still have some way to cross the river tomorrow, with the inkling sense that they very well may not.