Though the state’s total number of structurally deficient bridges has gone down, Louisiana continues to climb a nationwide ranking for its number of deficient bridges, moving up one spot to 12th on the list from 13th the year prior.
With 1,739 of its 12,915 bridges classified as structurally deficient, this year marks the second year in a row in which Louisiana has moved up in the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s ranking for worrisome bridges. In 2015, there were 1,838 marked bridges in Louisiana. In 2014, Louisiana ranked 14th among the states for its bad bridge total.
The report also says 1,898 Louisiana bridges are classified as functionally obsolete, meaning they do not meet design standards in line with current practices.
The ranking is based on an analysis of recently released data from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2016 National Bridge Inventory. Bridges with one or more key elements in poor condition are deemed structurally deficient.
Nationally, cars, trucks and school buses cross 55,710 structurally compromised bridges 185 million times daily, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association says. And while the nation’s inventory of structurally deficient bridges has declined 0.5% since 2015, it would take more than two decades to replace or repair all of them if the current pace holds.
Louisiana’s top structurally deficient bridges are in Caddo, Jefferson, Calcasieu, Orleans, Bossier, Ouachita and St. Mary parishes.
Released today, the report follows a recommendation by a state infrastructure task force that Louisiana should pursue private partners to tackle a $13 billion backlog of road and bridge maintenance improvements and to finance need transportation megaprojects.
Earlier this month, the state Department of Transportation and Development announced that it is seeking private investors to help with Interstate 10 improvements.
The ARTBA report says the estimated cost of needed repairs on Louisiana’s 3,217 bridges is $4 billion. “Federal investment in Louisiana has supported $1.9 billion for capital improvements on 906 bridges between 2005 and 2014,” the report says. “Over the last 10 years, 1,173 new bridges have been constructed in the state; 62 have undergone major reconstruction.”
