The Minneapolis bridge collapse one year ago today that killed 13 and injured more than 100 drew attention to bridges across the country.

In spite of the focus, Georgia bridges have gotten worse.

Part of the problem is money: There isn't enough to fix the bridges that need repair.

This year offered an additional disappointment: Two bridge inspectors left the state Department of Transportation in scandal when supervisors discovered dozens of their inspection reports were faked.

On the other hand, the condition of Georgia bridges is well above average. And DOT spokeswoman Crystal Paulk-Buchanan cautioned that just because a bridge's rating calls for repairs, that doesn't mean it's about to collapse.

But the trend is not good. "The issue is always going to be that we have more needs than we have resources for," she said.

AJC data analyst Megan Clarke contributed to this article.

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STRESSING

STRESSED BRIDGES

Heavy vehicles violate posted bridge weight limits but few are ticketed, a state audit found in June. Weight limits are intended to prevent stress on a "bridge that can no longer handle the maximum legal load of the roadway," but "Georgia's weak enforcement environment encourages truck operators to ignore bridge postings," the audit said.

MINNEAPOLIS AND US

The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating, but has found fault with some plates used at joints in the I-35 West bridge in Minneapolis. This week it released a lab report showing a critical plate had cracked partly along a line of corrosion. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune said state engineers had been aware of the corrosion for years but never ordered repairs. Minnesota officials said not to jump to conclusions.

After the collapse, inspections of similar bridges were ordered across the country, and Georgia engineers re-inspected the two bridges here like the one in Minneapolis. Such bridges don't have "redundant" supports built into them. Both were OK. The most traveled one, over Lake Lanier, retained its rating of 78 out of 100. Over 50 is acceptable.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

A state audit in June reported federal data showing 7.1 percent of Georgia's bridges were structurally deficient in 2007, the 10th-lowest percentage in the country.

And while a deficient rating —- 50 or less on a 100-point scale —- calls for repair or replacement, engineers say it doesn't mean a bridge is in imminent danger.

Georgia officials have said that to their knowledge, no Georgia bridge open to traffic has collapsed of its own accord like the Minneapolis one.

INSPECTIONS

In February, DOT announced a two-man bridge inspection team was leaving the department after the team leader confessed to reporting dozens of bridge inspections that had not really been done.

DOT forwarded the case to the state attorney general to see if charges could be filed. A spokesman for the attorney general said Thursday the investigation is ongoing.

DOT officials said other DOT inspectors were appalled and re-inspected those bridges. They found a Mitchell Street bridge in downtown Atlanta in such bad shape they closed it to traffic. It already was scheduled to be rebuilt.

The incident may point to a weakness in the system: If the two members of an inspection team were to collude to falsify reports, there may be no fail-safe way to catch them.

Supervisors spot-check a handful of a team's bridges once a year, though discrepancies they find aren't tracked over time to watch a team's accuracy, according to DOT. A state audit said the DOT's controls, such as having two people in a team and the supervisory reviews, seemed "reasonable."

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BY THE NUMBERS

A State of Decline

1141: structurally deficient bridges in Georgia, 2007

1213: structurally deficient bridges in Georgia, 2008

Fixing and Replacing*

254: state-owned bridges under construction in 2007

237: state-owned bridges under construction in 2008

Follow the Money

About $2 billion: total annual state DOT budget

$2.5 billion to $3 billion: amount it would take to fix all the Georgia bridges that need replacement or repair

Source: Georgia DOT

* Locally-owned bridges are in much worse shape than state-owned bridges, and local governments frequently do not make repairs recommended by DOT inspectors, state auditors said.