Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/206514
The State of the Nation's Bridges Our exclusive survey of bridge conditions in the United States shows that every year the percentage of overall structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges slightly improves, but for most states consistent, guaranteed funding remains a major roadblock to making bigger strides in this important infrastructure. by Tina Grady Barbaccia D espite the nation's transportation funding system being in peril as the expiration of the surface transportation funding bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2014, many state agencies expect to lower their number of functionally obsolete (FO) and structurally deficient (SD) bridges. However, funding still tops the list as the biggest impediment to lowering the state rates of SD/FO bridges. Even for Washington, D.C.'s Department of Transportation, the area in the nation with the highest percentage of combined SD/FO bridges (57 percent), the agency expects to lower its number of SD/FO bridges. The District has a total of 205 bridges and 117 total combined SD/FO bridges. Don Cooney, infrastructure project management administrator for the District's agency notes in our Bridge Inventory survey, "all but one of our structurally deficient bridges is in the District's 'Six-Year Plan' for rehabilitation or construction." Cooney notes funding remains as the greatest challenge in lowering the District's SD/FO bridges. (To see a state-by-state list of the greatest challenges to lowering the state rate of SD/FO bridges, see the table "What causes the most damage to bridges?" on Page 11.) "Insufficient funding will delay implementing design and construction of bridge projects," Cooney tells Better Roads. Rhode Island ranks as the state with the second-highest percentage (51 percent) of total combined SD/FO bridges. According to our survey, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation does not expect to be able to lower its rate of SD/FO bridges in the coming year. David Fish, P.E., managing engineer of bridge design for the Rhode Island DOT, also notes funding availability is the state's greatest challenge. Rhode Island has 766 total bridges, with a combined total of 387 of them classified as SD/FO. Of its 619 total interstate and state bridges, 311 of them (50 percent) are SD/FO; 76 (52 percent) of Rhode Island's 147 total city/ county/township bridges are considered SD/FO. New York is tied with Pennsylvania as the third and fourth states in the nation with 39 percent of its total bridges being considered SD/FO. New York has a total 17,392 bridges in the state, with 6,752 considered as SD/FO. The state has 8,339 total interstate and state bridges, with 3,453 (41 percent) of them being SD/FO. Of its 9,053 total city/ county/township bridges, 3,299 (36 percent) are SD/FO. Like D.C. and Rhode Island, the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) says funding availability is its biggest obstacles to reducing the number of deficient and obsolete bridges. To what extent will insufficient funding restrict important work in the coming year for the agency? "Greatly," Mengisteab Debessay of NYSDOT's Structures Division says in the 2013 Bridge Inventory survey. "Since our bridges are getting older and the number of deficient bridges is increasing, more funding will be required to improve our bridges." On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the poorest, Debessay gives New York State a 3. He says more than 60 percent of the highway bridges are in good condition. Pennsylvania, which also has 39 percent (8,752) of its 22,593 total bridges considered to be SD/FO, has fewer of its total interstate and state bridges (16,135) ranked as SD/ FO. Of the 16,135 total interstate and state bridges, only 5,530 (34 percent) are considered SD/FO – 7 percent better than New York. However, when it comes to total city/ county/township bridges, New York is in better shape. Fifty percent (3,222) of Pennsylvania's 6,458 total city/county/ Better Roads November 2013 7