Rhode Island Bridges Rated The Worst In The Country

Rhode Island has the highest percentage of structurally deficient bridges in the country, according to a new study. The American Road and Transportation Builders Association, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, published its annual bridge report Monday. Out of all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, Rhode Island ranked number one.

Out of 780 bridges, 180, or 23.1 percent are classified as structurally deficient, a full four percent more than West Virginia, which takes second place.

Here’s what the survey found for Rhode Island:

• Total bridges: 780
• Structurally deficient bridges: 180
• Percent of bridges that are structurally deficient: 23.1
• Number of bridges in need of repair: 721
• Cost to repair those bridges: $1.8 billion

To address these issues, Governor Gina Raimondo launched the Rhodeworks program, which aims to repair 90 percent of the state's bridges within a decade.

The 2019 bridge report found there are more than 47,000 bridges rated “structurally deficient” and in urgent need of repairs. Americans cross these bridges — which were built an average of 62 years ago — 178 million times a day.

“If placed end-to-end, they would stretch nearly 1,100 miles — the distance between Chicago and Houston,” the report stated.

While that number may sound like a lot, the total number of structurally deficient bridges has fallen by about 1 percentage point since 2014 to 7.6 percent. And it would take decades to repair them all.

“At this rate, it would take over 80 years to make the significant repairs needed on these structures,” the report stated.

Some of the notable bridges deemed structurally deficient include:

• New York’s Brooklyn Bridge
• Memorial Bridge connecting Washington, D.C. with Arlington, Virginia
• San Mateo-Hayward bridge crossing California’s San Francisco Bay – the longest bridge in the state.
• Robert S. Maestri Bridge over Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana
• Albemarle Sound Bridge and the Lindsay C. Warren Bridge crossing the Alligator River in North Carolina
• Florida’s Pensacola Bay Bridge
• Vicksburg Bridge in Mississippi
• Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge in Washington state

West Virginia, Iowa, South Dakota and Pennsylvania took spots two through five in the ranking.

According to the Federal Highway Administration’s website, the definition of structurally deficient was changed in 2018. The new definition limits the classification to bridges where one key structural element, such as the deck, superstructure, substructure or culverts, was rated in poor or worse condition. All of the data above, including those for previous years, uses the new definition.

Dr. Alison Premo Black, the organization’s chief economist who conducted the analysis, called the report “no April Fool’s joke.”

“America’s bridge network is outdated, underfunded and in urgent need of modernization,” said Black. “State and local government just haven’t been given the necessary resources to get the job done.”

The Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group encourages strong federal investment in transportation infrastructure.

RELATED:

• Lane Shift Expected To Cause Backups On I-95 N
• Albion Bridges To Close For Railing Repairs
• Bridge Repairs To Close Lanes Near Providence Place Mall
• No Lane Closures Planned For Cumberland Bridge Project

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.