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

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

A federal Transportation Department report last year broke down the condition of the 5,473 bridges in Maryland. Of the total number of bridges, 1,778 are in good condition, 3,443 are in fair condition and 252 are in poor condition.

Read all of Patch's Key Bridge collapse coverage here.

Those bridges include 1,899 that are part of the National Highway System and are eligible for federal infrastructure money. Of the bridges in the federal highway system, 554 are in good condition, 1,315 are in fair condition and 30 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.

Maryland has 1,595 bridges in need of repairs and the state will receive $440.7 million in bridge formula funds over the life of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, according to the report.

Maryland ranks 39th in structurally deficient bridges in that report. The 10 states 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:

• Baltimore Bridge Collapse: Rescue Ends For 6 Workers Presumed Dead
• ‘I Didn’t Think It Was Real’: Residents React
• Photos: A Search For Survivors After Bridge Collapse