More than 55,000 US bridges structurally deficient
WASHINGTON (AP) - A new report says the Brooklyn Bridge and Washington's Arlington Memorial Bridge are among thousands of spans considered structurally deficient.
Although the numbers of deficient bridges have declined in recent years, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association's analysis of transportation department data shows more than 55,000 bridges in the U.S. have been deemed deficient.
ARBTA says deficient bridges are crossed about 185 million times a day. The top 14 most-traveled deficient bridges are located in California.
FILE - This Sept. 11, 2013, file photo shows the bridge on Western Avenue over the Cal-Sag Channel framed by the rusted supports of the closed Chatham St. bridge in Blue Island, Ill. The Western Avenue bridge was classified as both "structurally deficient" and "fracture critical" in federal data for 2012. An analysis of Transportation Department data released by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association on Feb. 15, 2017, says more than 55,000 bridges in the U.S. have been deemed structurally deficient. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
Bridges labeled structurally deficient aren't necessarily in immediate danger of collapse. The term is applied when spans need rehabilitation or replacement because at least one major component has advanced deterioration or other problems.