State bridges rated second worst nationally behind R.I.
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Only Rhode Island is ahead of Pennsylvania for having the most structurally deficient and obsolete bridges, according to yet another survey -- this one conducted by Better Roads, a magazine that represents highway professionals and the transportation industry.
The survey claimed 39 percent of 23,527 bridges owned by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation are failing and out-of-date, a percentage point worse than 2005.
While Rhode Island ranked No. 50, at 53 percent, it has only 764 state-owned bridges.
But unlike Pennsylvania, it has made headway, cutting the number of structurally deficient and obsolete bridges by 4 percent over last year and 7 percent over 2004.
Pennsylvania has been panned in bridge surveys many times by numerous trade and engineering organizations. In January, Federal Highway Administration statistics rated 22.4 percent of PennDOT's bridges as structurally deficient about a month after the concrete beam from an overpass collapsed and fell onto Interstate 70 in Washington County.
"Despite bridges being a priority in many states for several years and modest increases in federal spending during that time, we are still barely moving the bar on bridge conditions," Better Roads editor- in-chief Ruth Stidger said.
First Published November 9, 2006 12:00 am
