|
July 23: Aging bridges from The International Business Times
- Three years after the Minneapolis collapse, nearly 25 percent of the nation's bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete," said Rep. James Oberstar, D-MN, and chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Oberstar cited figures from several federal reports on bridge safety. Of the 603,245 bridges in the National Bridge Inventory, 149,647 bridges -- nearly one in four-- were in need or repair or replacement. "The transportation system is aging," said Malcolm Kerley, chief engineer of the Virginia Dept. of Transportation. "The average bridge is now 43 years old. Truck traffic has nearly doubled in the past 20 years, and the trucking industry is pushing for heavier loads. Many Interstate bridges are reaching the end of their useful lives. And traffic keeps increasing."
|