A new report finds there’s the equivalent of one “structurally deficient”-rated bridge, on average, for every 27 miles of the nation’s major highway network, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).
Those 1,800 structurally deficient interstate bridges are crossed 60 million times daily, the association says.
But the problem is even bigger, according to the analysis of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s newly released 2017 National Bridge Inventory database.
In total, 54,259 of the nation’s bridges are rated structurally deficient, says Alison Premo Black, chief economist for ARTBA, which advocates strong investment in U.S. infrastructure. Black conducted the analysis.
If placed end-to-end, the deficient bridges would stretch 1,216 miles, or nearly the distance between Miami and New York City, ARTBA says.
Cars, trucks and school buses cross these 54,259 compromised structures 175 million times every day, the data show.
