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

NEW YORK — The catastrophic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday is raising questions again in New York and elsewhere about the overall safety of bridges.

A federal Transportation Department report last year broke down the condition of the 17,573 bridges in New York. Of the total number of bridges, 6,294 are in good condition, 9,701 are in fair condition and 1,578 are in poor condition.

Those bridges include 5,518 that are part of the National Highway System and are eligible for federal infrastructure money. Of the bridges in the federal highway system, 1,665 are in good condition, 3,516 are in fair condition and 337 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.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association releases a report on the nation's bridges annually. In the most recent one, the ARTBA said 1 in 3 bridges in the United States should be repaired or replaced.

Why are the nation's bridges in such bad shape?

"The simple answer to your question is 'neglect,'" John Schneidawind, the ARTBA's vice president for public affairs, told Patch in 2023.

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

New York ranks No. 13 in structurally deficient bridges in that report, which did note slight progress: the number of structurally deficient bridges in the state declined to 1,578 in 2023 from 1,745 in 2019.

Other highlights in the report:

• New York has identified needed repairs on 17,568 bridges.This compares to 17,509 bridges that needed work in 2019.
• Over the life of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which SmallTownTruth.org called "the largest investment in repairing bridges ever made in the U.S.," New York will receive a total of $2.0 billion in bridge formula funds, which will help make needed repairs.
• New York had access to $817.9 million of that total, and had committed $1.8 million towards 5 projects as of June 2023.

Of the 25 most-traveled structurally deficient bridges in New York, seven are in Queens County, six in Kings County, five in the Bronx, three in New York County, three in Rockland County and one in Westchester County, according to the report.

The New York Department of Transportation also has the BRIDGE NY program, begun in 2016 to offer assistance for local governments to rehabilitate and replace their bridges and culverts.

SEE ALSO:

• Rehab Work Complete On 1 Of 6 Bridge Projects In Suffolk
• Hochul Awards Over $20 Million For Nassau County Bridge Projects

Read Baltimore Patch’s complete coverage of the Key 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