Bridges in Pittsburgh labeled the worst
Share with others:
A report to be issued today says the Pittsburgh metropolitan area has the highest percentage of structurally deficient bridges in the U.S.
Some 30.4 percent of the bridges in the Pittsburgh area are deficient, according to the report by Washington, D.C.-based Transportation for America, tops for metro areas with populations of 2 million or more. Oklahoma City was tops in metro areas of 1 million to 2 million at 19.8 percent and Tulsa, Okla., was first-ranked in areas with 500,000 to 1 million at 27.5 percent.
There are more than 18,000 deficient bridges in metro areas in the U.S., said the organization, a coalition of groups seeking reform of national transportation policy. In Los Angeles, an average of 396 drivers per second cross deficient bridges, it said.
"There are more deficient bridges in our metropolitan areas than there are McDonald's restaurants in the entire country," said James Corless, the organization's director. "These metropolitan-area bridges are most costly and difficult to fix, but they also are the most urgent, because they carry such a large share of the nation's people and goods."
The report said nearly 70,000 bridges nationwide are structurally deficient, a definition that does not mean they are unsafe but that they are substandard, may require more maintenance and may need to be weight-restricted or closed if deterioration continues.
The Federal Highway Administration estimates it would cost $70.9 billion to eliminate the backlog, while the federal government currently spends about $5 billion a year on the problem, Mr. Corless noted.
"The recent shutdown of the Sherman Minton Bridge between Kentucky and Indiana was yet another reminder of the urgent need to repair our nation's bridges," he said. "A sincere initiative to fix these bridges would put thousands of people to work while ensuring that these critical links continue to carry people safely to work and that goods can make it to market, now and well into the future."
First Published October 19, 2011 12:00 am
