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

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

A federal Transportation Department report last year broke down the condition of the 14,068 bridges in Virginia. Of the total number of bridges, 4,669 are in good condition, 8,901 are in fair condition and 498 are in poor condition.

Those bridges include 3,841 that are part of the National Highway System and are eligible for federal infrastructure money. Of the Virginia bridges in the federal highway system, 885 are in good condition, 2,883 are in fair condition and 73 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.

Virginia has 6,346 bridges in need of repairs and the state will receive $578.0 million in bridge formula funds over the life of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, according to the report.

Virginia ranks 26th 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:

• Key Bridge Collapse Prompts HoCo Water Rescue Team To Help With Search
• 'The Bridge Is Down': Hear The Dispatch Audio From Key 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