CEA - How are Bridges in Your State?

Today’s episode is another one on our “America’s Infrastructure Report Card Series”, so to speak. Produced by the ASCE, these report cards are released every four years with the purpose of bringing to light the existing infrastructure problems and limitations in different sectors within the United States, ranging from bridges and dams to wastewater and energy.

Today, Mark Oakeson jumps back on to discuss with Isaac the last report card on bridge conditions nationwide, released in 2017. The overall grade assigned was a C+, which may not seem that bad initially, but according to the report, almost 10% of the nation’s bridges were structurally deficient in 2016, and there were about 188 million trips across such bridges per day. According to the report, 4 in 10 of America’s bridges are 50+ years old, which is highly significant once we factor in that a bridge is designed to reach 50 years of proper functioning at most.

For all civil engineers out there, this is a great episode that will certainly show you that there are plenty of opportunities. According to the report, civil engineers are needed as never seen before to ensure that our infrastructure functions properly, safely, and efficiently. Isaac and Mark dive into how inspections are made and how specialists determine if a bridge is a “pass” or a “fail”, the huge role that funding plays in this discussion, as well as uncovering the States that are doing a good job at taking care of their bridges and the ones that don’t.

Resources Mentioned

America’s Infrastructure Report Card (2017) - https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org

Bridge Infrastructure Report (2017) - https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/bridges

I-35W bridge collapse (MN, 2007) - http://www.dot.state.mn.us/i35wbridge/collapse.html

Federal Highway Administration - https://highways.dot.gov

Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/fastact

Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) - https://www.udot.utah.gov/connect

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Reach out to Isaac - isaac@civilengineeringacademy.com