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

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

A federal Transportation Department report last year broke down the condition of all 5,281 in Massachusetts. Of the total number of bridges, 1,339 are in good condition, 3,492 are in fair condition and 450 are in poor condition.

Those bridges include 2,302 that are part of the National Highway System and are eligible for federal infrastructure money. Of the bridges in the federal highway system, 428 are in good condition, 1,668 are in fair condition and 206 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.

(Also on Patch: Beverly Temporary Hall-Whitaker Bridge To Open In 2027: MassDOT)

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.

According to the report, the most traveled structurally deficient bridges mostly involve highway ramps and overpasses.

The Route 93/1 overpass on Route 24 carries about 199,278 vehicles per day, the Route 93/1/3 overpass over Conley Street in Dorchester carries about 183,386 vehicles per day, the Route 95/128 bridge over the RR Station in Westwood carries about 160,815 vehicles per day and the Route 93 bridge over the Merrimack River carries about 129,908 vehicles per day.

Massachusetts ranks 14th in structurally deficient bridges in that report with about 9 percent of bridges considered deficient. 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:

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