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Dive Brief:
- More than a third of the country the bridges need major repairs or replacement, according to the American Association of Highway and Transportation Builders’ analysis of data from the US DOT’s National Bridge Inventory, taken Aug. 20.
- In total, 36 percent or 221,800 bridges need repair and 76,175 need to be completely replaced, according to the ARTBA report, which provides a snapshot in time of the condition of the nation’s bridges. Additionally, 49% of US bridges were in good condition, meaning key elements structure had an average grade.
- Over the past five years, the proportion of bridges in fair condition has continued to grow as the proportion of structures classified as ‘poor’ or ‘good’ has declined. However, there are signs of progress, with 324 fewer bridges classified as dilapidated and structurally deficient this year than in 2023.
Diving knowledge:
Many of the nation’s bridges are already ailing, and extreme weather in a changing climate is stressing them beyond what they were originally designed to withstand. A study in the journal PLOS ONE found that extreme temperatures could cause one in four of the nation’s steel bridges will collapse by 2050.
About a quarter of the nation’s bridges were built before 1960, according to the New York Times, and rising heat and increased flooding caused by climate change makes them age even faster. Sharp changes in temperature cause the bridges to swell and contract quickly, leaving them weakened. This is especially worrying for the world that is on its way to achieving it the hottest year on record for the second straight year in a row
ARTBA broke down the number of bridges that need work by type of repair they require.
Courtesy of ARTBA
ARTBA estimates that it would cost at least $400 billion to make all the necessary repairs, without factoring in future climate stressors.
The Jobs and Infrastructure Investment Act of 2021 provides additional funding for bridges. States have received $15.9 billion in the first three years of the IIJA’s new $27.5 billion formula bridge program and have committed 46 percent of those resources to at least 4,170 bridge projects. The remaining 54 percent, or $8.5 billion, of bridge funds already released and $10.6 billion to be provided over the next two years will support bridge improvements, according to ARTBA.
Another new IIJA initiative, the Bridge Investment Program, provides an additional $12.5 billion for projects to be awarded through 2026. To date, the program has awarded $7.8 billion for 87 bridge grants planning, small and large bridge projects in more than 40 states, according to ARTBA. .
But that still leaves a funding gap of more than $350 billion, based on ARTBA’s estimate of $400 billion.
Measuring the health of the bridge
The state of the nation Bridge stock is slowly improvingaccording to a press release from ARTBA. Bridges in poor condition account for 6.8% of the US bridge inventory in 2024, up slightly from 7.3% in 2020.
“Over the past five years we’ve seen significant progress in states like Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Louisiana and West Virginia reducing the number of bridges in poor condition,” said ARTBA Chief Economist Alison Premo Black, who performed the analysis, to a release. “While improvements may take time, each bridge repair increases the safety and efficiency of our network for the traveling public.”
States with the largest declines in the number of bridges in disrepair include:
- Pennsylvania, going down 90 bridges.
- Louisiana, 87 less.
- Florida, with a drop of 85.
- West Virginia, down 74.
- California, down 64.
However, the number of bridges in poor condition increased in New York (86 more), Kentucky (60), South Carolina (59), Illinois (45) and Puerto Rico (38).
Bridges are classified in good, fair, or poor condition based on their inspection ratings and Department of Transportation definitions. The definition of “poor” is when a key element of the bridge — the deck, superstructure, substructure or culverts — is classified as poor or worse, according to ARTBA.
Most bridges are inspected every two years, which means that repairs in progress or in the planning stages can take some time to be reflected in the National Bridge Inventory data.
