After Baltimore Bridge Collapse, A Question: How Safe Are IL Bridges?

ILLINOIS — The catastrophic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday is raising questions in Illinois and elsewhere about the overall safety of bridges.

A federal Transportation Department report last year broke down the condition of the 26,873 in Illinois. Of the total number of bridges, 12,480 are in good condition, 11,921 are in fair condition and 2,472 are in poor condition.

Those bridges include 4,808 that are part of the National Highway System and are eligible for federal infrastructure money. Of the bridges in the federal highway system, 1,443 are in good condition, 2,975 are in fair condition and 390 are in poor condition.

Overall, more than 42,400 of the nation’s roughly 621,500 bridges are rated in poor condition. Of those, about 4,450 of nearly 147,000 bridges in the federal highway system are rated as poor.

Another report using federal data and released by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association found 1 in 3 bridges in the United States should be repaired or replaced.

Illinois has 4,125 bridges in need of repairs and the state will receive $1.5 billion in bridge formula funds over the life of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, according to the report.

Illinois ranks 11th in structurally deficient bridges in the report, with 9 percent. The 10 states and territories with the most structurally deficient bridges are:

1. West Virginia, 20 percent
2. Iowa, 19 percent
3. South Dakota, 17 percent
4. Rhode Island, 15 percent
5. Maine, 15 percent
6. Pennsylvania, 13 percent
7. Puerto Rico, 13 percent
8. Louisiana, 12 percent
9. Michigan, 11 percent
10. North Dakota, 11 percent

Read Baltimore Patch’s complete coverage of the bridge collapse:

• Bridge Collapses After Cargo Ship Hits It
• ‘I Didn’t Think It Was Real’: Residents React
• Photos: A Search For Survivors After Bridge Collapse