/ By Blase Iorio / Did You Know/ • • / 0 Comments

ARTBA says 56,000 US Bridges are Deficient

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association has published a report after reviewing the U.S. DOT 2016 National Bridge Inventory data. About 56,000 bridges nationwide, or 9% were classified as structurally deficient last year. Nearly 1900 of these bridges are along the nations interstate system. The major factor with these structures is that 28% of all the bridges are more than 50 years old.

The trucking industry, which leads in freight movement, has long sounded the alarm about the nation’s infrastructure. Something has to be done. The states with the highest number of bad bridges are Iowa(4968), Pennsylvania(4506), Oklahoma(3460), Missouri(3195), and Nebraska(2361).

The Trump administration has made this problem a priority. Hopefully, Congress will approve the budget to fix these bridges. Not only will it make our country safer, it will employ thousands of workers.

Source:www.transportationtopics.com :USA Today

/ By Charity Boughner / Trucking/ • • • • / 0 Comments

Changes to Bridge Weight Limits in Pennsylvania

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAStarting August 26, 2013 there will be additions/increases to weight restrictions to around 1,000 structurally deficient bridges in Pennsylvania.  The authorization came from Pennsylvania DOT Secretary Barry Schoch, who stated the changes must be made because of legislative inaction this past June on transportation funding that left the department’s future resources in question.  By reducing the weight traveling on the bridges the department hopes to slow down the deterioration of the bridges and preserve safety.  There will be approximately 530 state-owned and 470 locally-owned bridges that will have changes to their weight restrictions.

Pennsylvania has the third largest number of bridges in the nation, 25,000 state-owned, but leads the nation in the number of bridges classified as “structurally deficient”.  The average age of bridges in Pennsylvania is over 50 years old.  The state ranks 35th in the nation with the percent of bridges that are posted or closed, but after the new weight restrictions are put in place it will rank 27th in the nation.

To learn more about Pennsylvania bridges and for a list of changes to bridge restriction visit the PennDOT website, http://www.dot.state.pa.us/.

/ By Charity Boughner / Trucking/ • • • • / 0 Comments

Changes to Bridge Weight Limits in Pennsylvania

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAStarting August 26, 2013 there will be additions/increases to weight restrictions to around 1,000 structurally deficient bridges in Pennsylvania.  The authorization came from Pennsylvania DOT Secretary Barry Schoch, who stated the changes must be made because of legislative inaction this past June on transportation funding that left the department’s future resources in question.  By reducing the weight traveling on the bridges the department hopes to slow down the deterioration of the bridges and preserve safety.  There will be approximately 530 state-owned and 470 locally-owned bridges that will have changes to their weight restrictions.

Pennsylvania has the third largest number of bridges in the nation, 25,000 state-owned, but leads the nation in the number of bridges classified as “structurally deficient”.  The average age of bridges in Pennsylvania is over 50 years old.  The state ranks 35th in the nation with the percent of bridges that are posted or closed, but after the new weight restrictions are put in place it will rank 27th in the nation.

To learn more about Pennsylvania bridges and for a list of changes to bridge restriction visit the PennDOT website, http://www.dot.state.pa.us/.