Purdue News
Purdue News
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January 31, 2001 Report: many bridges deficient, roads in poor conditionWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Nearly 30 percent of Indiana's county-maintained bridges "are either structurally or functionally deficient," according to a report released this week by a center at Purdue University that provides transportation resources for local governments. The report, called a "Local Government Transportation Needs Assessment," also found that: • There is a severe funding shortfall for bridges and roads maintained by counties and other local governments, and state funding is likely to decrease next fiscal year. • The shortfall has existed for so long that it would cost more than $2 billion simply to catch up on previously neglected work, including an estimated $616 million to replace 2,022 of the most deficient bridges and $1 billion to improve highways and streets. • The average-size school bus is too heavy to safely cross 14 percent of all county bridges. However, those bridges are clearly marked with signs indicating weight restrictions. • Indiana has more deficient county bridges than any adjacent state, except for Ohio, and nearly twice as many as Kentucky or Michigan. • 52 percent of county roads included in a survey were more narrow than the 18 feet recommended for safety purposes. • Only about 25 percent of the roads included in the survey had center lines to distinguish lanes. • It would cost $244 million to make safety improvements such as widening roads and adding the necessary pavement markings, such as center lines. • Even though there is a higher volume of traffic on state roads, most traffic accidents – 55 percent in rural areas and 81 percent in urban areas – occur on locally maintained roads. "Possibly the most disturbing statistic is that 55 percent of county bridges have an estimated remaining life of some component of less than five years," researchers said in the report, which was prepared by the Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program. The federally funded program, based at Purdue, provides technical assistance and training to highway, road and street departments of all 92 counties, 115 cities and more than 400 towns in the state. The report notes that 29 percent of county bridges are more than 50 years old. Deficient bridges are not necessarily dangerous, said Thomas Martin, manager of the technical assistance program. "It's not as though we've got bridges falling down in Indiana," he said, noting that deficient bridges are restricted to light-weight vehicles. "So, for example, you can't cross them with a school bus. They are an inconvenience more than a safety problem." Bridges that have weight restrictions "are essentially a road block for many vehicles ... It is not uncommon for residents to be landlocked from school buses reaching their homes because of a series of weight restricted bridges," researchers said in the report, noting that a similar condition often exists for farmers, who may be unable to get grain trucks to market due to weak, load restricted structures. The report notes that at least 260 county bridges are located on dead-end streets, making residents and businesses especially dependent on those spans. In addition to the $2 billion needed to upgrade the aging transportation infrastructure, an estimated $453 million of new funding would be needed every year to maintain bridges and roads so they do not fall back into disrepair. "It should be emphasized that these figures are, if anything, on the conservative side," researchers said in the report. State funding, however, is scheduled to be reduced next fiscal year. County highway departments receive two major sources of funding derived partially from state excise tax on gasoline and other fuels. During the past six fiscal years one of the funding sources, the "local road and street" distributions, has been bolstered by an injection of money from the state's general fund. However, the general fund contributions will end next fiscal year, reducing the amount of state funding for county highway departments by about $60 million annually. Indiana's aging roads and bridges represent a microcosm of the national transportation infrastructure, which contains about 500,000 bridges, many of them obsolete. The purpose of the report was to document the extent of the problem in Indiana, and some of the findings will be discussed during an annual County Bridge Conference Thursday (2/1) at Purdue, Martin said. The report classifies bridges according to a "sufficiency rating" system on a scale of zero to 100, in which 100 is excellent and zero is poor. That rating "is a measure of the sufficiency of the structure to remain in service." It considers such factors as overall condition, traffic volume and the distance it would take to travel alternate routes to bypass the bridge. Another measure of a bridge is its "deficiency," which has two categories. A "structurally deficient" bridge is restricted to light-weight vehicles due to a deterioration of bridge components. The second deficiency category, called "functionally obsolete," takes into account factors such as a span's design, load capacity and its ability to meet the needs of the road on which it is located. A bridge could be in good condition, or even newly constructed, but still be functionally obsolete because of poor design or bad planning. Bridges that have a sufficiency rating of less than 50 and also are classified as deficient are eligible for federal funding to help pay for replacement. The counties with the highest percentage of bridges in that category are: Switzerland, 55 percent; Crawford, 43 percent; Orange, 43 percent; Putnam, 43 percent; Owen, 42 percent; Jennings, 40 percent; Clay, 39 percent; and Franklin, 39 percent. A complete listing of counties is available on the Web. Martin said the report's findings should not be used to lay blame on current government officials. "This is not a problem that started yesterday," he said. "This is a problem that started 50 years ago." Source: Thomas Martin, (765) 494-2210, tcmartin@ecn.purdue.edu Writer: Emil Venere, (765) 494-4709, venere@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: A copy of the report is available from Emil Venere, (765) 494-4709, venere@purdue.edu.
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