August 7, 2007 (LPAC)--The latest Bureau of Transportation Statistics data show: There are a total of 592,473 road bridges in the U.S., of which 155,144 are deemed "structurally deficient and/or functionally obsolete," for a national average of 26.2% in that condition. According to the office of Minnesota Congressman James Oberstar (D-MN), Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the House, up to 30% of the nation's bridges that receive Federal funds have been deemed structurally deficient to some degree. Oberstar has scheduled a hearing Sept. 5 on the crisis, and has posted charts for review on the status of bridges, 1990-2006. His Committee website provides data on the classification of bridges by state, with a map for each Congressional District.

The geographic pattern of location of the outmoded bridges shows that fully 40 states have at least one in five bridges in the category of "structurally deficient and/or functionally obsolete" as of 2006. Of these, 10 states have over 30 percent in this condition. And three states--Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Rhode Island, plus the District of Columbia, have over 40 percent of their bridges classified as decrepit.

In absolute numbers, Pennsylvania ranks highest in the nation. Of their total of 25,000 state-owned bridges, 6,250 need rehabilitation or replacement. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) said last week, "American infrastructure is crumbling."

In contrast, the state of Minnesota, where the Mississippi River bridge collapsed Aug. 1, ranks in the relatively "good" category, with only 12.2 percent (1,586) of its bridges considered in need of refurbishing or replacement. (Data on bridges is kept by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics at http://www.bts.gov).

The design of the Twin Cities 40-year old I-35W bridge that collapsed, is to be found in 756 other bridges of that vintage around the country, a large number of which are in Ohio, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Some states are in the process of checking these on a priority basis, others, including Pennsylvania, are still waiting on the analysis of the Minneapolis disaster.

The U.S. Department of Transportation currently estimates there is a $461 billion backlog of needed road, highway and bridge repair and improvements.