JACKSON, MISS., Wednesday, July 30, 2008---According to Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) Executive Director Larry L. “Butch” Brown, in the past year the nation has been focusing on the condition of America’s bridges.  With the collapse of the Minneapolis I-35 W Bridge last year, national attention has been addressed about the importance of repairing and constructing bridges that are stronger and more durable that will accommodate the needs of the traveling public and provide a safe transportation infrastructure.

MDOT’s top priority is to provide a safe intermodal transportation system. Mississippi has 16,575 bridges and about 34 percent of those bridges are owned and maintained by MDOT on U.S., state and interstate highways.  About 66 percent of the bridges are owned by counties and municipalities.

According to Brown, Mississippi has 1,274 (8%) bridges classified as functionally obsolete, which are defined as bridges with narrow lanes, no shoulders or low clearances.  About 2,830 (17%) are classified as structurally deficient. Structurally deficient bridges are those structures that are not unsafe but need some type of repairs. Replacing all structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridges, would take approximately $1 billion dollars.

Brown stated that the release of the national report on the condition of America’s 600,000 bridges will be very beneficial to the nation as a whole. The report, issued by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), underscores the safety of U.S. bridges, but finds that one out of every four needs to be modernized or repaired, despite the efforts of state transportation officials.  AASHTO reports that it could cost $140 billion to make all of the needed repairs or upgrades immediately.

Among the report’s key findings:

·                    Age – Usually built to last 50 years, the average bridge age in this country today is 43, with one in five bridges over 50 years old.  As age and traffic increase, so does the need for repair.

·                    The Price Tag – Based upon data from the Federal Highway Administration, the cost to repair or modernize the country’s bridges is $140 billion – assuming all the bridges were fixed immediately. 

·                    Traffic Congestion – Many of the nation’s large-scale bridges have become chokepoints on the country’s freeway system, and a drain on the nation’s economy. The top 10 highway interchange bottlenecks cause an average of 1.5 million truck hours of delay each year.

·                    Soaring Construction Costs –The costs of steel, asphalt, concrete and earthwork have risen by at least 50 percent in the past five years, forcing delays of bridge improvements and replacements.  Nearly every state faces funding shortages that prevent them from the kind of on-going preventive maintenance, repair and replacement  needed to keep their bridges sound indefinitely.

In order to address the funding problem we are faced with, we should consider the following:

• increased investment in transportation;
• support a wide range of revenue options such as tolls, tax increases, and bonds or private investments;
• commitment to research and innovation;
• systematic maintenance to extend the life of bridges, and
• increased public awareness that bridges are vital links to business and communities.

“As we continue to work together as a nation to Bridge the Gap,” said Brown. “We will need to share ideas and promote new technology to build stronger and better bridges.  We must build a strong and durable infrastructure in order to Bridge the Gap for the future.”