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Michael Larson

AASHTO Report Says $140 Billion Needed For Bridges Nationwide
July 29, 2008

On Monday, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) issued a report that says it will take $140 billion to repair, upgrade, or replace all the bridges in the U.S. that need work.

AASHTO says there are about 600,000 bridges in the country and that about 152,000 of them are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. That’s about one in four.

Although those terms sound scary, they don’t necessarily mean a bridge is unsafe. They can just mean that a bridge was built with a design that is no longer being used or that it is no longer can efficiently handle the volume of traffic it is being asked to serve.

That notwithstanding, the fact is that a large proportion of the nation’s bridges need work or some sort, and that the cost to do it is high.

The AASHTO report says that most of the bridges in the country were built to last 50 years, and that the average age is now 43 years. In addition, it says that 20% -- one bridge in every five – is more than 50 years old.

The report also noted that as time goes by and costs rise, the price of repairing and replacing the nation’s bridges will only go up.

The time to do start building a solution is now.

AASHTO’s report proposes a multi-faceted solution that includes:

·           Investing more money in bridge construction, maintenance, and repair at all levels of government.

·           Looking at a wide range of revenue sources, including tolls, taxes, annual user fees, bonds, and private investment.

·           Continued commitment to research and innovation.

·           Systematic maintenance to extend bridges’ useful life (Wisconsin is ahead of the game on this one).

·           Increasing public awareness of the value of bridges (and, therefore, support for bridge spending).

I agree. The problem is that other key segments of infrastructure, such as roads, water, and sewer systems, dams, and levees, also need work just as badly.

Some of those upgrades should, of course, be handled at the local level. But many that affect people across large regions will need funding, too.

For too long, America has taken its infrastructure for granted. We now have to pay the price for that neglect.

No matter how we approach it, the cost won’t be pretty. But waiting won’t make the problems go away.

AASHTO’s ideas sound like a good way to start.

What do you think?

Posted by Michael Larson on July 29, 2008 | Comments (0)