The American Roads and Transportation Builders Association's (ARTBA) 2017 Bridge Report report ranks Texas as having only 1.7 percent of its 53,488 bridges as structurally deficient; only Nevada had a lower percentage at 1.6%.
Though Texas was nearly lowest in percentage, the sheer number of bridges in the state placed it in the middle of the pack (24th) when ranked by total number of deficient bridges (1,008). A structurally deficient bridge is where "one or more of the key bridge elements, such as the deck, superstructure or substructure, is considered to be in 'poor' or worse condition." According to the report, the five most heavily crossed structurally deficient bridges in Texas are:
ARTBA's bridge summary for Texas also showed that 17% of Texas' bridges (8,997) are functionally obsolete, i.e. "the bridge does not meet design standards in line with current practice." The number of structurally deficient bridges decreased by 10.7% compared to the previous year, indicating that Texas is making progress; however, the the nubers also show that much work is still needed, an estimated $8 billion (by TxDOT) in bridge repairs. The online report can be viewed at the ARTBA's 2017 Bridge Report website, including state rankings, and individual state reports. This analysis was based on the Federal Highway Adminstration's National Bridge Inventory. Comments are closed.
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