State of America's Bridges
8 November 2009 Better Roads Shockingly high number of bridges remain sub-standard T here are 597,787 bridges in America, 288,920 inter-state and state bridges and 308,867 city/county/township bridges. But 21.6 percent or 62,504 of the interstate and state bridges are structur-ally defi cient (SD) or functionally obso-lete (FO). And 25.7 percent of the city/ county/township bridges or 79,394 are SD/FO. Maintenance, personnel, training, age, environmental restrictions, a need to minimize traffi c disruption, capacity and corrosion issues remain major barriers to lowering the rate of bridges becom-ing defi cient, despite some respite com-ing from stimulus fund money. Texas leads the nation with the most combined structurally defi cient and functionally obsolete bridges. The state has 9,564 19 percent of its total 50,316 bridges as SD/FO. Of the total 32,862 interstate and state bridges, 4,182, or 31 percent, are SD/FO. Of the 17,454 total city/county/township bridges, 5,383 or 13 percent are SD/FO. Pennsylvania is second with 9,130 of its total 23,562 bridges, or 39 per-cent, as SD/FO. The state has 16,668 total interstate and state bridges, with 5,971 36 percent reported as SD/ FO. Forty-six percent, or 3,159 of all the state's 6,875 city/county/township bridges are considered SD/FO.State of-fi cials note that funding is the greatest challenge to lowering the state's rate of bridge deterioration, but corrosion, heavy salt use and more traffi c than bridges were designed to carry cause the greatest damage. But, Lance Savant, P.E., with Pennsyl-vania Department of Transportation's Bureau of Design, says his state expects to be able to lower its rate of its struc-turally defi cient and functionally obso-lete in the coming year. Pennsylvania has its accelerated bridge program which focuses on replacing/repairing SD bridges, Savant says. Nonetheless, bridges could certainly be improved if the state could devote more funds to bridge preservation...to keep the good bridges good, he says. Many of the other states' agencies echo the same sentiment. Following Pennsylvania, in order, the other top fi ve states with the highest number of combined total SD/FO bridg-es are Missouri, Ohio, and Oklahoma. Missouri has 24,096 total bridges, a combined total of 7,103, or 29 percent, which are SD/FO. There are 10,249 to-tal interstate and state bridges, 2,838, or 28 percent, of which are SD/FO. Of the 13,847 total city/county/township bridges, 4,265, or 31 percent are SD/FO. Ohio has 6,993 23 percent of the total 30,617 in the state being SD/ FO. Of the total 11,639 interstate and state bridges, 2,475, or 21 percent, are SD/FO. Of the total 18,978 city/county/ township bridges, 4,518, or 24 percent, are SD/FO. Finally, 6,904, or 29 percent, of Okla-State of Bridges By Tina Grady Barbaccia Bridge Inventory Bridge Inventory The Better Roads Bridge Inventory is an exclusive, award-winning, annual survey that has been conducted since 1979. Bridge engineers from every state and Washington, D.C., are sent a survey with both qualitative and quantita-tive questions. The Federal High-way Administration, in consultation with the states, has assigned a suffi ciency rating, or SR, to each bridge (20 feet or more) that is in-ventoried. Formula SR rating fac-tors are as outlined in the current Recording and Coding Guide for Structures Inventory and Apprais-al SI&A of the Nation's Bridges. The qualitative data is gathered through a questionnaire about major issues concerning bridge conditions and maintenance. Bridge Inventory Bridge Inventory A comprehensive, and worrying, survey of our bridges