Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/206514
2013 Bridge Inventory township bridges are SD/FO. FundA Five-Year Look at America's Bridges ing availability is also the greatest Type of Bridge 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 challenge for the state. However, the Interstate and state bridges Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) expects a reduction in SD bridges, says Anthony J. McCloskey, P.E., bridge asset manCity/county bridges agement section chief of PennDOT's Bureau of Maintenance and Operations. Whether this reduction is long term is "questionable," he says. Total overall bridges surveyed PennDOT self-ranks its bridges as 3.5, with 1 being the poorest. McCloskey and his agency acknowledge the state Source: Better Roads 2012 Bridge Inventory has one of the highest numbers of SD bridges in the country but points out reduced from an all-time high in 2008 (6,023 SD bridges) PennDOT "has taken great strides in the past to reduce this number. Between 2008 and 2010, we opened bids on 1,603 to an all-time low in October 2013 (4,350 SD bridges)." Massachusetts comes in as fifth in the nation by a perSD bridges, which surpassed any other state DOT in improvcentage point with the highest percentage of SD/FO bridges ing their infrastructure. Our current SD bridge number has in the nation. Interestingly, this East Coast state is at 38 percent across the board for percentage of total combined SD/FO bridges (1,962) of the state's total 5,149 bridges. Massachusetts' 3,577 total interstate and state bridges have 1,369 (38 percent) rated as SD/FO. OF its 1,572 total city/ county/township bridges, 593 (38 percent) are SD/FO. Alex Bardow, a bridge engineer with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), says his agency doesn't expect to be able to lower this number of SD/FO bridges. Funding availability is the great challenge, he says. Our South Pacific island state of Hawaii is next on the list, only coming in one percentage point lower than Massachusetts at 37 percent of combined total SD/FO bridges, with 428 of the state's 1,163 total bridges ranked as such. Thirtyeight percent (290) of the state's 771 total interstate and state bridges are considered SD/FO, and 35 percent (138) of the 392 total city/county/township bridges are SD/FO. Paul Santo, bridge design engineer for the Hawaii Department of Transportation, says his agency expects to lower its number of SD/FO bridges. "We have several bridges scheduled for construction or under construction that should fractionally reduce the number [of SD/FO bridges]," Santo reports. "Condition-wise, we only have about 7 percent that are structurally deficient and few fracture critical bridges." Connecticut ranks just after Hawaii at 36 percent of its combined total bridges as being SD/FO. The state has 4,203 8 November 2013 Better Roads