RI Still Ranks As Having the Worst Bridges, Despite Hundreds of Millions in Investment

RI Still Ranks As Having the Worst Bridges, Despite Hundreds of Millions in Investment

Rhode Island still has the worst bridges in the country, despite hundreds of millions in investment.

According to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), 23.1% (180 out of 780 bridges in Rhode Island) are classified as structurally deficient, the highest percentage in the country.

Read the Report Here

According to ARTBA, Rhode Island has identified needed repairs on 721 bridges at an estimated cost of $1.8 billion.

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Structurally Deficient Bridges

States with the most structurally deficient bridges as a percent of their total bridge inventory: 

1. Rhode Island (23 percent)
2. West Virginia (19.8 percent)
3. Iowa (19.3 percent)
4. South Dakota (16.7 percent)
5. Pennsylvania (16.5 percent)
6. Maine (13.1 percent)
7. Louisiana (13 percent)
8. Puerto Rico (11.7 percent)
9. Oklahoma (10.9 percent)
10. North Dakota (10.7 percent).

States with the largest number of structurally deficient bridges are: 

1. Iowa (4,675 bridges)
2. Pennsylvania (3,770)
3. Oklahoma (2,540)
4. Illinois (2,273)
5. Missouri (2,116)
6. North Carolina (1,871)
7. California (1,812)
8. New York (1,757)
9. Louisiana (1,678)
10. Mississippi (1,603).

“Sadly, this report is no April Fool’s joke. At the current pace, it would take more than 80 years to replace or repair the nation’s structurally deficient bridges. That’s longer than the average life expectancy of a person living in the U.S. America’s bridge network is outdated, underfunded and in urgent need of modernization. State and local government just haven’t been given the necessary resources to get the job done,” said Dr. Alison Premo Black, the ARTBA chief economist who conducted the analysis.

In total, there are nearly 235,000 bridges—or about 38 percent—in need of some sort of structural repair, rehabilitation or replacement, according to ARTBA’s analysis.

Tolling in RI

As GoLocalProv reported in 2016, the state's truck tolling program was approved by the federal government to help pay for bridge repairs. 

The program was signed into law on February 11, 2016.

"For too long, our state kicked the can down the road on infrastructure, allowing our roads and bridges to crumble and fall into total disrepair. With RhodeWorks, leaders came together to put an end to the politics of procrastination and take action to keep people safe. With the partnership and approval of the federal government, we are going to keep moving forward as quickly as we can to deliver the infrastructure Rhode Islanders deserve," said Governor Gina Raimondo at the time.

In December 2018, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation received approval from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to continue with construction of the next ten tolling gantries that are expected to be in place by May of 2020.

According to the RIDOT, since tolling began at locations 1 and 2, the tolling program has collected over $3,706,836.