7 Jefferson County Bridges Listed As 'Structurally Deficient'

JEFFERSON COUNTY, AL — A new report from a road contractors’ lobbying group lists multiple bridges in Jefferson County among more than 43,000 bridges across the country that are “structurally deficient” and in danger of collapsing.

The report from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, based on data downloaded Jan. 3, lists seven structurally deficient bridges in Jefferson County.

Bridges listed by the organization include:

• I-459 over the Cahaba River
• I-59/20 over Aaron Aronov Drive
• Al - 5 (US 11) over Opossum Creek
• 21st Street over Morris Ave.
• 22nd Street over Morris Ave.
• 22nd St over Rotary Trail Park
• Al - 150 over Little Shades Creek

A bridge is classified as structurally deficient if the deck, superstructure or substructure are in poor condition, or if the culvert below it is in poor condition, according to government definitions.

Earlier this year, the Transportation Department targeted about 15,000 crumbling bridges for repair in a five-year, $27 billion program — the largest dedicated bridge investment in U.S. history since the interstate highway system was authorized in the 1950s.

The condition of the nation’s bridges was spectacularly illustrated with the Pittsburgh bridge collapse in January. The same day, President Joe Biden visited the area to tout his $1 trillion infrastructure program and dedicated funding to fix bridges.

This is the eighth year the road and bridge contractors group has compiled the inventory of crumbling bridges. It’s based on reports submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation by the agency’s state counterparts for inclusion in the National Bridge Inventory.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association is a lobbying group whose 28 political action committees gave more than $2.6 million to political candidates in 2019-2020, including about $518,270 to Democrats and $2.15 million to Republicans, according to OpenSecrets.org.