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Wed August 16, 2023 - National Edition #18
More than 222,000 U.S. bridges need major repair work or should be replaced, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association's (ARTBA) analysis of the recently released U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) 2023 National Bridge Inventory (NBI) database.
That figure represents 36 percent of all U.S. structures.
If placed end-to-end, these bridges would stretch more than 6,100 mi. and take over 110 hours to cross at an average speed of 55-miles-per-hour, according to ARTBA Chief Economist Alison Premo Black, who conducted the analysis. Based on average cost data submitted by states to U.S. DOT, Black calculates it would cost more than $319 billion to make all needed repairs.
States currently have access to $10.6 billion from the 2021 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's (IIJA) bridge formula funds that could help make needed repairs, with another $15.9 billion to be available in the next three years.
As the end of FY 2023 approaches on Sept. 30, states have committed $3.2 billion, or 30 percent of available bridge formula funds to 2,060 different bridge projects, with $7.4 billion still coming.
Eight states committed more than two-thirds of their available bridge formula funds: Idaho (100 percent), Georgia (100 percent), Alabama (97 percent), Arizona (88 percent), Indiana (81.5 percent), Florida (80 percent), Texas (78 percent) and Arkansas (68 percent).
"The good news is that states are beginning to employ these new resources to address long-overdue bridge needs," ARTBA President and CEO Dave Bauer said. "The better news is that more improvements are on the way."
"Most bridges are inspected every two years, so it takes time for repairs and rehabilitation efforts to show up in the annual federal data," said Black. "What we do know now from other market indicators is that there are more bridge projects in the pipeline."
Among other findings in ARTBA's analysis:
The full findings, including state-by-state rankings, are available at: www.artbabridgereport.org.