States With the Most Bridges in Poor Condition

On Sunday in Philadelphia, an overpass section of I-95, the main North-South corridor on the Eastern Seaboard and one of the busiest interstates in the country, collapsed after a fuel truck lost control and caught fire. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said it would likely take months to repair, terrible news for the hundreds of thousands of commuters who commute over that stretch every weekday. It is not clear whether there were existing problems with the overpass, but if there were, it wouldn’t be a surprise, as the nation’s concrete and steel-based infrastructure, it’s roads and bridges, faces long-running issues of degrading structural integrity. 

These issues were addressed in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which set aside $110 billion to repair the nation’s aging roads and bridges.  Of the 618,456 bridges in the U.S. (comprising over 396.2 million square meters of bridges), 7.3% — 45,031 bridges (comprising 21 million square meters) — were classified in poor condition as of 2020. Another 294,992 bridges, 47.7%, were classified as fair and 278,433 bridges, 45.5%, as good, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In Pennsylvania, 14.6% of bridges were in poor condition.

Under federal law, states must periodically inspect bridges — based on standards set by the Pavement and Bridge Condition Performance Measures final rule — and report the findings to the Federal Highway Administration. The deck, superstructure, substructure, and culvert are all rated on a scale of 0 to 9. If all the elements rate at least 7, the bridge is classified as being in good condition. If an element rates no less than between 5 and 6, the bridge is considered in fair condition. If any of the bridge’s elements rate 4 or less, the bridge’s condition is classified as poor.

To determine the states with the highest percentage of bridges in poor condition, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from the FHWA. States were ranked on the share of total bridges classified as being in poor condition as of Dec. 31, 2020.  

Bridges are also considered structurally deficient “if significant load-carrying elements are in poor condition due to deterioration or damage” or if “the waterway opening of the bridge causes intolerable roadway traffic interruptions.” However, a bridge classified as structurally deficient isn’t necessarily unsafe and may require some measures taken or more frequent monitoring. If a bridge is found unsafe, it would be shut to traffic immediately. 

To encourage state spending on structurally unsound bridges, there is a penalty threshold under the National Highway Performance Program. If more than 10% of the total deck area of a state’s bridges is rated as structurally deficient for three consecutive years, the state must set aside NHPP funds for eligible projects on bridges on the National Highway System.

Click here to see the states with the most structurally deficient bridges

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