Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/412488
18 November 2014 Better Roads 2014 Bridge Inventor y 2. Rhode Island: This East Coast state came in as the second highest in percentage of total com- bined SD/FO at 51 percent. Rhode Island reports having 757 total bridges, and 387 (that 51 percent) are total combined SD/FO. Fifty-one percent (310 out of 612) of its total number of interstate and state bridges are also considered as combined SD/ FO. Fifty-three percent of its total combined city/county/township bridges (77 out of 145) meet the SD/FO classification. David Fish, P.E., managing engineer of bridge design for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (DOT), says he doesn't expect to lower the states of SD/FO in the coming year. That rate has held steady, though. Last year, Rhode Island also ranked at 51 percent of its total bridges being considered SD/FO. In a self-rating for how well a state's bridges rank, on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the poorest, Fish gave Rhode Island a 2 "[because] Rhode Island currently has the second- lowest bridge ranking in the United States." How is Rhode Island able to work toward improving its bridges? "Funding" is the biggest challenge in lowering the SD/FO rate, Fish says. Insufficient funding in the coming year "would prevent us from implementing more of the preservation contracts that are needed to help reduce the rate of SD bridges in the state." Producing a list of preservation action that would qualify for federal funding would help the system of planning and maintaining bridges in this country, Fish says. In fact, Fish says if he could change any aspect of his department to improve bridges in the state, he says he would "implement more bridge preservation programs and implement programmatic agreements with regulatory agen- cies to expedite the design process." 3. Pennsylvania: Coming in as the third state in the nation with the highest percentage of total combined SD/FO bridges, 38 percent (8,613) of Pennsylvania's 22,623 bridges are considered SD/FO. Last year, 39 percent (8,752) of all Pennsylvania's bridges (22,593) were considered SD/ FO. The state has 16, 125 total combined interstate and state bridges, 34 percent (5,433) of which are considered SD/FO. Last year, 34 percent (5,530) of the state's total 16,135 total interstate and state bridges were considered SD/FO. At a more local level, 49 percent (3,180) of Pennsylvania's 6,498 total city/county/township bridges are classified as SD/ FO this year. In 2013, 50 percent (3,222) of the state's 6,458 total city/county/township bridges were considered SD/FO. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is taking advantage of the public-private partnership (P3) tool that Republican Gov. Tom Corbett Jr. (governor at the time this article was written, which was before the Nov. 4 election) signed into law in 2012 to start an initiative to help improve the state's bridges. With the P3 approach, the Pennsylvania Depart- ment of Transportation (PennDOT) says it will able to replace hundreds of these bridges more quickly, save money, as well as minimize the impact on the traveling public.(For more specifics, go todot.state.pa.us/Internet/P3info.nsf/Bridge?ReadForm.) For a list of the Final Rapid Bridge Replacement Project Bridge List, current as of Sept. 22, 2014, go to ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/pub- lic/Bureaus/Press/P3/P3RBRBridgeList.xlsx. As of Oct. 24, 2014, a team had been selected to replace 558 bridges through the P3 project. The team, which in- cluded 11 Pennsylvania-based subcontractors in its proposal, must begin construction in summer 2015 and complete the replacements within 36 months, according to a written statement from PennDOT. The state retains ownership of the bridges, but the team is responsible for maintaining each bridge for 25 years after its replacement. (For the official press release, go to ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/Bureaus/Press/ Source: Better Roads 2012 Bridge Inventory Type of Bridge 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Interstate and state bridges 7RWDOVXUYH\HG 6')2 3HUFHQWDJH City/county bridges 7RWDOVXUYH\HG 6')2 3HUFHQWDJH Total overall bridges surveyed 7RWDO 6')2 3HUFHQWDJH 6')2 VWUXFWXUDOO\GHILFLHQWIXQFWLRQDOO\REVROHWH6RXUFH%HWWHU5RDGV%ULGJH,QYHQWRU\DQGSUHYLRXV\HDUUHSRUWV 1RWH0LVVLVVLSSL 1HYDGDGLGQRWUHVSRQGILJXUHVXVHG1RWH&DOLIRUQLD 2KLRGLGQRWUHSRUWIXQFWLRQDOO\REVROHWH A Five-Year Look at America's Bridges