AASHTO Journal, 3 April 2015
State and local transportation agencies during 2014 were able to remove more than 2,000 bridges from the nationwide list of those rated structurally deficient, but 61,000 are still in that category, said the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
The ARTBA analysis of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory database said the comparison between 2013 and 2014 “finds good news and bad news when it comes to the most heavily traveled U.S. bridges.” The report comes as Congress is now under two months away from a May 31 deadline to reauthorize the Highway Trust Fund’s road, bridge and transit funding programs.
ARTBA Chief Economist Alison Premo Black, who conducted the analysis, said: “State and local governments are doing the best they can to address these significant challenges, given limited resources.” She said the investments in bridge improvements have been growing, but at the expense of highway and pavement spending that has dropped more than 20 percent in the last five years.
ARTBA said Black’s analysis of the federal data “shows cars, trucks and school buses cross the nation’s 61,064 structurally compromised bridges 215 million times every day. Not surprisingly, the most heavily traveled are on the Interstate Highway System, which carries the bulk of truck traffic and passenger vehicles.”
Black also said the bridge problem could soon worsen, as nearly a dozen states so far have canceled or delayed road and bridge projects because of uncertainty over when Congress will act on the trust fund that reimburses states when their construction project bills come due.
And she said states need more money beyond the current levels. “Without additional investment from all levels of government, our infrastructure spending will be a zero-sum game,” she said, noting that there is a current backlog of over $115 billion in bridge work and $755 billion in highway projects, according to U.S. DOT data.
That is in line with a recent “Bottom Line Report” from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials along with the American Public Transportation Association, which said spending at all levels of government is not nearly keeping pace with road and transit infrastructure needs.
AASHTO is also stressing the importance of the transportation network in the economy in a new video messaging campaign.
“Many of the most heavily traveled bridges are nearly 50 years old. Elected officials can’t just sprinkle fairy dust on America’s bridge problem and wish it away,” Black said. “It will take committed investment by legislators at all levels of government.”
Bridge decks and support structures are regularly inspected by the state transportation departments for deterioration and are rated on a scale of zero to nine – nine being “excellent” condition.
A bridge is classified as structurally deficient and in need of repair if its overall rating is four or below. While these bridges are not unsafe, ARTBA said signs should be posted so the public is aware of structural deficiencies that need repair.
The builders’ group generated an interactive graphic showing examples of deficient bridges in all 50 states.
