Maintenance, repairs and replacements needed for US Bridges

The US is in desperate need of rebuilding many of its road bridges. This comes from an analysis of official data carried out by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). According to ARTBA’s analysis of the US Department of Transportation’s just released 2017 National Bridge Inventory database, 54,259 of the nation’s 612,677 bridges are rated structurally deficient. The work is needed as these transport links are vital, with Americans crossing these deficient bridges 174 million
February 1, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

The US is in desperate need of rebuilding many of its road bridges. This comes from an analysis of official data carried out by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). According to ARTBA’s analysis of the US Department of Transportation’s just released 2017 National Bridge Inventory database, 54,259 of the nation’s 612,677 bridges are rated structurally deficient. The work is needed as these transport links are vital, with Americans crossing these deficient bridges 174 million times/day. The average age of a structurally deficient bridge is 67 years, compared to 40 years for non-deficient bridges. The report says that one in three (226,837) US bridges have identified repair needs and more worryingly still, one in three (17,726) Interstate highway bridges have identified repair needs.

The US Interstate Highway System carries 75% of the nation’s heavy truck traffic.  The report finds there is the equivalent of one “structurally deficient”-rated bridge, on average, for every 43km of the major highway network. The 1,800 structurally deficient Interstate bridges are crossed 60 million times daily.

The pace of improving the inventory of structurally deficient bridges slowed this past year.  At the current pace of repair or replacement, it would take 37 years to remedy all of them, according to Dr Alison Premo Black, chief economist for the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), who conducted the analysis.

Finance & Funding Road Structures

Related Content

  • Linking Kenya and Uganda with a new road project
    May 10, 2018
    An upgraded road link will improve transport between Uganda and Kenya - Shem Oirere reports Rainfall patterns and type of soil in an agricultural rich area shared by the neighbouring East African countries of Kenya and Uganda was a key consideration in arriving at the decision to upgrade to bitumen standards 73km of the 118km Kapchorwa-Kitale road that links the two countries. Initially, Uganda had proposed to have the road between Kapchorwa and Suam on its border with Kenya re-gravelled and widened to a
    Read More
  • Carry on Movin’ On - Michelin’s mobility event
    October 15, 2018
    Many of the great and the good in the global mobility sector gathered at this year’s Movin’ On event in Montreal. Measured regulation of technologies and safety issues were major themes, reports David Arminas Autonomous vehicles, platooning, smart intersections and safety – these were the talking points over two and half days of the Movin’ On event in Montreal. Everyone in the mobility sector is at the same point, trying to see what mobility will look like in the future. Apparent at the event was just
    Read More
  • New international trade crossing linking Canada and US
    June 9, 2015
    The Detroit River is short, only 45km, and narrow in places, less than 1km. Around a quarter of the annual $658 billion Canada-US trade crosses over the river. That’s $160 billion worth of goods trucked each year between Detroit in the US state of Michigan and the Canadian city of Windsor in the province of Ontario - the Windsor-Detroit Corridor. There are several types of crossings, but the vast majority of commercial traffic must use the 2.3km Ambassador Bridge (see box). A new bridge was initially prop
    Read More
  • Balanced Mix Design in the US could revolutionise pavement design and testing
    April 30, 2018
    Roads in the US keep failing so the Federal Highways Authority is proposing a new approach to mix design, but what does this mean for tests and testing? - Kristina Smith reports How do you test an asphalt mix for rutting? In the US, the answer could be any one of several tests, depending on which State you are in: Asphalt Pavement Analyser, Flow Number, Hamburg Wheel Tracking Test, Superpave Shear Test or Triaxial Stress Sweep Test. But that could all change. The Federal Highways Agency (FHWA), part of
    Read More

Highlighted Content