(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - Data from a new government report show that if all the structurally deficient bridges in the United States were placed end-to-end, it would take you 25 hours driving 60 miles per hour to cross them. That's like driving the 1,500 miles between Boston and Miami. And it's a problem that's close to home.

Included in the top 10 most traveled structurally deficient bridges in Alaska are Ketchikan's Water Street Viaduct built in 1955 and the Hoadley Creek bridge built in 1957.

Currently plans are underway that would remove the Water Street Viaduct from the list. The Alaska Department of Transportation held a public meeting in Ketchikan earlier this week (April 22, 2014) to provide a preliminary report to the public including the Department's plans for replacing approximately 1,000 feet of the deteriorated Water Street Viaduct from approximately the 1250 block to the 1639 block of Water Street.

An analysis of the 2013 National Bridge Inventory database recently released by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) shows cars, trucks and school buses cross the nation's more than 63,000 structurally compromised bridges 250 million times every day. The most heavily traveled are on the Interstate system.

The problem could get a lot worse, the chief economist for the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) says, as states across the nation face a slowdown in reimbursements for already approved federal-aid highway projects in August. Without congressional action, Dr. Alison Premo Black says there will be no Highway Trust Fund support for any new road, bridge, or public transportation projects in any state during FY 2015, which begins October 1.

"Letting the Highway Trust Fund investment dry up would have a devastating impact on bridge repairs," Black says, noting the trust fund has supported $89 billion in bridge construction work by the states over the past 10 years. "It would set back bridge improvements in every state for the next decade."

"The bridge problem sits squarely on the backs of our elected officials," Black says. "The state transportation departments can't just wave a magic wand and make the problem go away. It takes committed investment by our legislators. Members of Congress need to come to grips with that. Some of our most heavily travelled bridges were built in the 1930s. Most are more than 40 years old."

Bridge decks and support structures are regularly inspected by the state transportation departments for deterioration and are rated on a scale of zero to nine—nine being "excellent" condition. A bridge is classified as structurally deficient and in need of repair if its overall rating is four or below.

Highlights from the Federal Highways Administration's 2013 Alaska's Bridge Inventory:

• Of the 1,196 bridges in Alaska, 133 bridges, or 11% are classified as structurally deficient. This means one of more of the key bridge elements, such as the deck, superstructure of substructure, is considered to be in "poor" or worse condition.
• There are 157 bridges, of 13% of all state bridges, classified as functionally obsolete. The means the bridge does not meet design standards that are in line with current practice.
• Federal-aid investment in Alaska has supported $379.0 million in bridge construction spending on 601 bridges between 2003 and 2012, according to FHWA data.
• Since 2004, 158 new bridges have been constructed in the state and 60 bridges have undergone major reconstruction.
• The state estimates that it would cost approximately $83.4 million to fix a total of 139 bridges in the state.

Edited by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

On the Web:

2013 Report Card For Alaska's Infrastructure ASCE
What You Should Know About Alaska's Infrastructure
http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/a/#p/state-facts/alaska

American Road & Transportation Builders Association: State View Profiles
http://www.slideshare.net/artba/state-bridge-profiles-alaska

American Road & Transportation Builders Association State Profiles
http://www.artba.org/economics/us-deficient-bridges/

Source of News: 

Alaska Department of Transportation
www.dot.state.ak.us

American Road & Transportation Builders Association
http://www.artba.org

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Ketchikan, Alaska

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