Home > The Cone Zone > Archives > 2008 > July > 28 > Entry
Bill For Bridge Repair: $140 Billion
One out of every four of the 600,000 bridges in the United States needs to be modernized or repaired.
Making all of the necessary repairs would cost at least $140 billion.
Those two staggering facts are the premise of a report released today by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
With the first anniversary of the Minneapolis I-35W bridge tragedy on Friday, the report — Bridging the Gap: Restoring and Rebuilding the Nation’s Bridges — outlines the critical challenges ahead in upgrading our roadway transportation system.
“Across the nation, state and local transportation agencies are struggling to keep our country’s bridges safe, sound and fit for the future,” said AASHTO Executive Director John Horsley. “A new generation of bridges must be built and Bridging the Gap points the way.”
Here are some of the key findings in the report:
The average bridge is 43 years old. Most bridges are built to last 50 years. About 20 percent of more than 50 years old.
The $140 billion estimated cost is assuming all of the bridges were fixed immediately. That obviously is not going to happen, so the real cost will be much higher.
Many of the bigger bridges have become choke points on the freeway system and a drain on the economy. The top 10 highway interchange bottlenecks cause an average of 1.5 million truck hours of delay each year.
The cost of steel, asphalt, concrete and earthwork have risen at least 50 percent in the past five years, forcing delays in many bridge projects. Nearly every state has a funding shortfall that prevents the kind of preventative maintenance, repair and replacement need to keep bridges in sound condition.
So what needs to be done? Here’s some solutions from the report:
Increased investment in transportation at all levels of government.
Support for a wide range of revenue options, such as tolls, tax increases, road user fees, bonds and private investment.
Commitment to research and innovation.
Systematic maintenance to extend the life of bridges.
Increased public awareness that bridges are vital links to businesses and communities.
Comments
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Imagine all the things that could have gotten fixed in this country if we weren’t dumping all that money into the war in Iraq.
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And once again, yet another transportation study neglects to recommend getting cars off the road completely by encouraging telecommuting :-(.
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