1 In 20 Washington Bridges Are Structurally Deficient: Report

SEATTLE — A new report from a road contractors’ lobbying group found 43,578 bridges across the country that are “structurally deficient” and in danger of collapsing.

The report from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, based on data downloaded Jan. 3, lists 401 structurally deficient bridges in Washington. That's about 4.8 percent of the state's combined 8,358 bridges. It's also down from 2020, when 416 bridges were found to be 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.

Though the bulk of the state's bridges are not in poor condition, most could use some work: the state lists 6,894 bridges that need at least minor repairs. Fixing all of them would cost around $17.2 billion, the report found.

The state does have plans to address at least some infrastructure concerns. Tuesday, State Democratic leaders unveiled the "Move Ahead Washington" plan, a $16 billion investment in infrastructure projects and improvements over the next 16 years. Included in the proposal is $3 billion for maintenance and preservation, plus a proposal to replace the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River.

Earlier this year, the Transportation Department targeted about 15,000 crumbling bridges for repair in a five-year, $27 billion program — the largest dedicated bridge investment in U.S. history since the interstate highway system was authorized in the 1950s.

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.