NY Has 1,928 Deficient, Possibly Unsafe, Bridges; 2 Of The Worst Are In The Hudson Valley: Study

You may not realize it, but that bridge you just drove over may not have been in good shape, let alone safe. That's because many of the bridges in the United States — and 11 percent of the spans in New York — are in serious need of repair or modernization, and almost all the bridges in the state have identified needs.

An analysis of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s recently released 2016 National Bridge Inventory data finds cars, trucks and school buses cross the nation’s 55,710 structurally compromised bridges 185 million times daily.

State transportation departments, in turn, have identified 13,000 interstate bridges that need replacement, widening or major reconstruction.

The study from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association ranked New York No. 10 in the country for number of structurally deficient bridges. In addition, the group identified 25 of the most heavily traveled structurally deficient bridges in New York. Two of them are in the Hudson Valley, with the rest in New York City.

Heavily traveled, structurally deficient bridges in the Hudson Valley:

• Ranked 14 out of 25: Urban interstate bridge on I-87 over Route 303 in Rockland County. Built in 1953, it has 134,573 daily crossings.

• Ranked 21 out of 25: Urban freeway bridge carrying the Cross County Parkway over the Bronx River Parkway, the Bronx River and the Metro-North tracks in Westchester County. It was built in 1983, and it has 118,710 daily crossings.

The group said that the vast number of the bridges listed as structurally deficient may not be imminently unsafe, but ARTBA believes the public should be notified about the condition of each span and that they need repair.

Highlights of the report:

• Of the 17,462 bridges in New York, 1,928, or 11 percent, are classified as structurally deficient. This means one or more of the key bridge elements, such as the deck, superstructure or substructure, is considered to be in "poor" or worse condition.
• New York has identified needed repairs on 17,386 of those 17,462 bridges, which the state estimates will cost $75 billion.
• 4,531 bridges, or 26 percent, are classified as functionally obsolete. This means the bridge does not meet design standards in line with current practice.
• 884 bridges are posted for load, which may restrict the size and weight of vehicles crossing the structure.
• Federal investment in New York has supported $17.5 billion for capital improvements on 3,481 bridges between 2005 and 2014.
• Over the past 10 years, 1,290 new bridges have been constructed in the state; 623 have undergone major reconstruction.

The inventory of structurally deficient bridges nationally has declined 0.5 percent since the 2015 report. At that pace, it would take more than two decades to replace or repair all of them, according to ARTBA Chief Economist Alison Premo Black, who conducted the analysis.

Black says the data shows 28 percent of bridges (173,919) are more than 50 years old and have never had any major reconstruction work in that time.

“America’s highway network is woefully underperforming. It is outdated, overused, underfunded and in desperate need of modernization,” Black said in a press release. “State and local transportation departments haven’t been provided the resources to keep pace with the nation’s bridge needs.”

Other key findings in the ARTBA analysis:

• Iowa (4,968), Pennsylvania (4,506), Oklahoma (3,460), Missouri (3,195), Nebraska (2,361), Illinois (2,243), Kansas (2,151), Mississippi (2,098), Ohio (1,942) and New York (1,928) have the most structurally deficient bridges. The District of Columbia (9), Nevada (31), Delaware (43), Hawaii (64) and Utah (95) have the least.

To help ensure public safety, bridge decks and support structures are regularly inspected for deterioration and remedial action, according to the report. They are rated on a scale of zero to nine — with nine meaning the bridge is in “excellent” condition. A bridge is classified as structurally deficient and in need of repair if its overall rating is four or below.

While these bridges may not be imminently unsafe, they are in need of attention.

Established in 1902, Washington, D.C.-based ARTBA analyzes the U.S. transportation design and construction industry before Congress, the White House, federal agencies, news media and the general public.

Image via ARTBA

By Tom Davis and Lanning Taliaferro (Patch Staff)