Federal Highway Agency Unveils Bridge Safety Oversight Program

The federal government announced a new bridge oversight program that officials say will enable the Federal Highway Administration to more closely monitor how states are performing their bridge inspections and maintenance.

“The safety of our nation’s bridges is of paramount importance,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. “There is always room to do better, which is why we have launched this new safety initiative.”

LaHood said the new approach allows FHWA to more clearly and easily identify bridge issues in each state. Previously, FHWA prepared a written assessment of a particular state’s bridge inspection program based on the outcome of a general review of key inspection areas. Under the new system, FHWA will replace the narrative with an actual grid of 23 specific inspection program areas to identify potential safety challenges more easily. Inspection areas include such items as bridge load limits, loss of sediment from the foundation due to erosion and inspection frequency by individual states.

Because the new system is based on more objective data, federal officials say it provides for more consistency in the bridge inspection program nationwide and more targeted approaches to identifying problem areas in specific states.

President’s Obama’s proposed Fiscal Year 2012 budget calls for $70.5 billion to maintain and build roads and bridges, including $320 million for bridge inspections. The proposal aims to reduce the backlog of bridge rehabilitation projects first identified in 2006 by 50 percent by 2017. Since 1994, the percentage of bridges in the worst condition has declined from 19.4 percent to 12 percent, according to FHWA.