The State of Your Bridges
By Tina Grady Barbaccia
2010 BRIDGE INVENTORY
The State of Your Bridges
t’s a case of good news/bad news. Better Roads’ annual bridge inventory reveals that fewer of the country’s bridges are considered structurally deficient (SD) or functionally obsolete (FO) than any time in the last five years. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the number of bridges in those classifications is still worrying high. The nation has 600,513 total bridges, but 23.3 percent — or 139,620 of them — are considered structurally deficient (SD) or functionally obsolete (FO). Of America’s 291,034 total interstate and state bridges, 61,149 - or 21 percent are SD/FO. There are 309,479 total city/ county/township bridges in the United States, and 78,471 — or 25.4 percent — are SD/FO. But there are 2,278 fewer bridges than last year rated as SD or FO. Last year, out of the 597,787 total bridges surveyed, 141,898 of them — or 23.7 percent — were SD/FO. Compared to last year, there are also fewer SD/FO interstate and state bridges. In 2009, 62,504 — or 21.6 percent of the total 288,920 interstate and state bridges — were SD/FO and 79,394 — 25.7 percent — of the 308,867 city/county/township bridges were found to be SD/FO last year. [Editor’s Note: The 2009 numbers use 2008 data from Massachusetts and 2007 data from Rhode Island because updated numbers were not supplied for the 2009 Bridge Inventory.] These are some of the findings from the Better Bridges 2010 Annual Bridge Inventory, an original research project conducted annually by Better Roads.
18 November 2010 Better Roads
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Our exclusive survey of bridge conditions in the United States
A Five-Year Look at America’s Bridge Inventory Type of Bridge 2006 2007 2008 Interstate and state bridges
Total surveyed *SD/FO 285,942 62,517 287,431 62,855 288,511 63,910 288,920 62,504 291,034 61,149
2009
2010
City, county, township bridges
Total surveyed *SD/FO 309,247 83,479 310,384 81,459 308,893 81,032 308,867 79,394 309,479 78,471
Total overall bridges surveyed
Total *SD/FO 595,189 145,996 597,815 144,314 597,404 144,942 597,787 141,898 600,513 139,620
2,726 more bridges in the national inventory in 2010 than 2009
*SD/FO = structurally deficient, functionally obsolete
Source: Better Roads 2006-2010 Bridge Inventory Surveys
Where the most troubled bridges are
Although our nation’s capital has only 199 bridges, Washington, D.C. has the worst percentage of SD/FO bridges in the nation by overall percentage. Of the District’s 199 bridges, 123 — or 62 percent — are SD or FO, 7 percent more than in 2009. The District of Columbia’s DOT (DDOT), however, says it expects to lower the rate of deficient bridges in the coming year through rehabilitation and reconstruction projects. But availability of funding remains the greatest challenge in reaching this goal, says Don Cooney, infrastructure project manage-
ment administrator for the DDOT, in his survey response to Better Roads. Rhode Island is the second worse, with 417 — 53 percent — of 789 total bridges being SD or FO. The state has 54 percent — 341 — of its 634 total interstate and state bridges in FO or SD condition — and 49 percent — 76 of 155 — of total city/county/township bridges in SD or FO condition. “We have instituted a plan that targets structurally deficient bridges,” David Fish with the Rhode Island DOT points out in his survey response. The third ranking for combined overall FO/SD bridges is shared by Hawaii and Pennsylvania with a 38-percent
The Better Roads Annual Bridge Inventory was the 2008 and 2009 winner in the Original Research category in the American Society of Business Publication Editors’ (ASBPE) National “Azbee Awards of Excellence” contest.