It will cost $28 million to repair Pittsburgh’s Birmingham Bridge—money the state simply does not have.
The damages to the bridge are not visibly apparent. However, in February, corroded steel supports caused a concrete pier to move, resulting in a portion of the deck shifting and dropping.
No one was injured in the incident, and transportation officials say the 2,700-ft-long bridge is not at risk of collapse, but Pennsylvania is spending up to $5.8 million on emergency repair.
That figure is significantly short of the projected $28 million needed.
“The needs still far outweigh the available funds,” state Transportation Department district executive Dan Cessna said. “These bridges are old. There was inadequate funding in the past and the priorities were not always on bridge maintenance and repair. That’s how you get in this situation.”
Pennsylvania’s average bridge is a half-century old, and over a quarter of its bridges are classified by the Federal Highway Administration as structurally deficient—more than any other state. Twelve percent of U.S. bridges are structurally deficient.
In 2002, Pennsylvania spent $259 million on bridge repair, replacement and maintenance. In 2007, that amount had escalated to $700 million. However, the state’s percentage of structurally deficient bridges is relatively the same.
Gov. Ed Rendell said the lack of change in percentage is due to new bridges being added to the list of repairs as others are repaired and removed from the list.
In July, Rendell and the Legislature approved a $350 million bond issue to cover work on 411 bridges, but Pennsylvania’s deficient bridges reach some 8,000.
