Nearly One-Fifth Of Rhode Island Bridges In Danger Of Collapse

PROVIDENCE, RI — Nearly one-fifth of Rhode Island's bridges are among the more than 43,500 across the country are in danger of collapse. The American Road and Transportation Builders Association, a road contractors’ lobbying group, reported that 136 of the 779 Rhode Island's bridges are considered "structurally deficient."

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.

In January, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a five-year, $27 billion program for bridges across the country — the largest dedicated bridge investment in U.S. history since the interstate highway system was authorized in the 1950s. Rhode Island is slated to receive $47.1 million in the current fiscal year and $235.5 million in total.

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.