A new analysis of U.S. bridges by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has found that nearly 224,000 bridges across the country need major repairs.
Analyzing the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) 2021 National Bridge Inventory (NBI) Database, ARTBA found that more than a third (36 percent) of all the bridges in the country need major repair work or need to be replaced. Among those, nearly a fifth (43,578) were considered structurally deficient.
While the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will provide states with new resources to make improvements to infrastructure, like bridges, Congress and the Biden administration have yet to release additional funding because they have not enacted Fiscal Year 2022 transportation appropriations at the IIJA levels, ARTBA said.
“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,” ARTBA President & CEO Dave Bauer said. “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.”
ARTBA said that based on average repair and replacement cost data from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) submitted by bridge owners, the estimated cost of repairs to all 224,000 bridges is $260 billion.