Where America's Unsafe Bridges Are

[liberal N proud]

The Federal Highway Administration oversees the inspection of all of the country's 575,413 bridges, and it classifies almost 20 percent of them as "structurally deficient." A structurally deficient bridge is not necessarily in danger of imminent collapse; for example, the category includes many bridges that are still safe but have vehicle-weight restrictions.

More than 80 percent of all U.S. bridges are located east of the geographic midpoint between the coasts. The skewed distribution is due in part to the way the Midwest and Great Plains states were settled--in the so-called "township-and-range" pattern, which resulted in the laying down of land parcels and roadways in evenly spaced grids; in order to maintain this even spacing, many bridges had to be built over small waterways. Iowa, for example contains more bridges than Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming combined.






The percentage of structurally deficient bridges should increase in the next ten years, in large part because tens of thousands of bridges built on the interstate highways during the boom years following the Second World War will soon be in need of major repairs. The Secretary of Transportation estimates that federal, state, and local governments will need to increase their yearly funding by almost 40 percent to meet the surging need for bridge rehabilitation.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/03/troubled-bridges/306142/

[Mnemosyne]

1. NW Pa here and they have been madly working on bridges in my area. I see the undersides of these

bridges while taking the grandson fishing. These bridges are literally crumbling away, very scary to see.

[AndyA]

2. Oklahoma has a ton of unsafe bridges

Thanks so much Republicans! Taking care of the people at home, aren't you? (Taking care of themselves is what they're doing.)

We've had people die sitting in traffic under bridges because big chunks of concrete fell off the bridge and smashed through their car.

Republican government in action: corporations get everything, the American people die.

[HillWilliam]

3. Not surprised to see my county in red

There are two one-lane bridges on the road to my house from the early 20s. There were three but one got replaced about 6 years ago. At the north end of the road there's a dam from probably the 1910s that has major cracks in it and could go at any time. That'll be something when it goes, sigh.

[Tikki]

4. Having lived in Louisiana, I would say there are unsafe bridges there. It is a beautiful State, yet

we think carefully how we would travel through the State avoiding certain bridges and roads.


Tikki

[Aerows]

5. Especially around New Orleans

and the stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans is a hazard all by itself.

[X_Digger]

6. 'Ka-WHUMP'..'Ka-WHUMP'..'Ka-WHUMP'..'Ka-WHUMP'..

I avoid a bunch of the same ones just because of that damned noise as you travel it.

[magellan]

7. WTF is up with NY?

EVERY county has 32% or more structurally deficient bridges? That's shocking.

[liberal N proud]

8. Think salt

Winter ice melt in these northern states is salt. Surprised not more northern states are not worse than it shows.

[GoCubsGo]

10. They may also have a lot more bridges to maintain.

Some places have more roads, or more rivers and gulches to cross And, as the OP points out, there is a matter of how the land is parceled out. Lots of wide open spaces out West that have no roads going through them.

[alfredo]

14. Heavy use plays into the deterioration.

[krispos42]

17. And round trips across a bridge...

...can cost$14 or more in tolls.

Per car. and god knows how many cars per day use those bridges.

Hell, you can't go anyplace without crossing at least 2 of them, it seems.

[Beacool]

9. The entire state of New York is red.

Hey Cuomo, time to fix the state's infrastructure.

Maybe he should worry less about Weiner's weiner and concentrate on his own job.

[BainsBane]

11. There shouldn't be one structurally unsound bridge in this country

We fund the biggest military the world has ever seen, yet we can't keep bridges from collapsing?

[liberal N proud]

13. We have been building bombs not bridges

It is all bass ackwards

[moondust]

12. Chart is from 1993.

I'm curious what it looks like now.

Are Republicans reluctant to fix infrastructure in blue states and perhaps poor areas, similar to their reluctance to fund Sandy relief?

I remember Al Gore campaigning some on fixing infrastructure back in 2000, noting poor ASCE ratings. I figured that would be a good place to spend some surplus money.

Has any progress other than the shovel-ready Obama stimulus projects been made in the past 20 years or are the Ayn Randians in Washington going to just let it all rot and collapse?

[bike man]

15. Have there been any more recent studies re defective bridges since this one

in the early 1990's?

Surely some repairs have been made during these 20+ years.

edited to add reason for asking: Two recent threads about bridges failing as a result of accidents - one train collision, another a truck involved.

[liberal N proud]

16. This is the only study I have seen in recent articles.

You have to wonder why.