PITTSBURGH — A national study released Wednesday confirms Pennsylvania is among the leaders in bridges rated in poor condition across the country, but it is hardly alone.
An analysis of the National Bridge Inventory by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association shows there are 43,578 bridges across the country rated in poor condition and nearly 224,000 that need major repairs or replacement. That's just under one-third of the 619,588 bridges across the country.
The report comes as the National Transportation Safety Board continues its investigation into Friday morning's collapse of the poorly rated Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh's Point Breeze neighborhood that fell from Forbes Avenue into a ravine in Frick Park, injuring 10 people.
The association said its review shows the number of bridges in poor condition is down 1,445 from the previous year. It estimates Pennsylvania remains second with 3,198 poor bridges, about 1,300 behind Iowa, although the figures are slightly different than those used by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
"We continue to see some progress, but at this rate it would take about 30 years to fix all of those bridges," said Alison Premo Black, the association's chief economist who analyzed the data. "There's still a lot of work to be done."
In addition to the bridges rated in poor condition, the association said another 35,200 should be replaced for safety reasons.
The association estimates it would cost $260 billion to upgrade or replace all 224,000 bridge in need of major work. In a more striking description, Black said if those bridges were lined up they would stretch about 6,100 miles, from Maine to California and back.
The group said the $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill approved by Congress last fall is a step in the right direction. But it is concerned because funding for the bill hasn't been fully implemented yet and the continuing resolution on existing funding expires Feb. 18.
"The longer it takes to bridge the political divide on the FY 2022 spending bills, the longer it will take for transportation improvements to get started," Dave Bauer, the association's president and CEO, said in a news release. "We urge Congress to act forthwith so that the American people can begin to realize the benefits of the historic investments in the bipartisan infrastructure law."
