Widely circulated doom and gloom
reporting about the sorry state of this nation’s surface transportation infrastructure
will only get worse as the Federal Highway Administration begins to collect “element
level” bridge condition data from state highway departments. The Moving Ahead
for Progress in the 21st Century highway legislation mandates state
reporting to FHWA of separate ratings for each and every square foot of roadway
bridge built with federal funding. Bridge components, including decking, joint
seals, girders, beams, bearings and columns, will each get a square foot by square
foot rating as good, fair, poor or severe.
This sort of detailed reporting,
while it could lead to more precise budgeting for needed repairs and
maintenance, will undoubtedly not lead to higher funding levels to meet the
needs reflected. What it will do is give the public a more accurate, and hence
gloomier, picture of the sorry state of our bridges, which carry ever increasing
loads of freight and passenger traffic, while receiving less and less
maintenance and repair attention. Maybe this kind of reporting will lead to
highway funding authority more appropriately based on the need to bring the
worst bridges up to safe condition, rather than relying on political influence
of Representatives and Senators to determine where our finite resources are
allocated.
