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Report: More than 63,000 U.S. Bridges are Structurally Compromised

Highway projects face reimbursement slowdowns if Highway Trust Fund is not reauthorized.


London Bridge isn't the only one falling down; more than 63,000 in the U.S. need repair, too.

Data from a new government report show that if all the structurally deficient bridges in the United States were placed end-to-end, it would take you 25 hours driving 60 miles per hour to cross them.  That’s like driving the 1,500 miles between Boston and Miami. And it’s a problem that’s close to home.

This ARTBA map paints a clear picture of the state of the nation's bridges. It shows the percentage of structurally deficient bridges by state.

An analysis of the 2013 National Bridge Inventory database recently released by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) shows cars, trucks and school buses cross the nation’s more than 63,000 structurally compromised bridges 250 million times every day.  The most heavily traveled are on the Interstate system.

The problem could get a lot worse, the chief economist for the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) says, as states across the nation face a slowdown in reimbursements for already approved federal-aid highway projects in August. Without congressional action, Dr. Alison Premo Black says there will be no Highway Trust Fund support for any new road, bridge, or public transportation projects in any state during FY 2015, which begins October 1.

Click here to read the entire ARTBA release.

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