From CNN:

Nearly a quarter of the nation’s roughly 600,000 major bridges carry more traffic than they were designed to bear, according to reports based on federal government data.

Federal Highway Administration data from 2006 shows that 24.5 percent of the nation’s bridges longer than 20 feet were categorized as “structurally deficient” or “functionally obsolete.”

Some states are worse than others. Arizona and Rhode Island have a similar number of structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridges—384 and 405 respectively. In Arizona, however, that’s 5 percent of its total bridges, while in Rhode Island, it’s more than half. See how many problem bridges are in your state »

The Interstate 35W bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River during Wednesday rush hour was deemed structurally deficient two years ago.

Additionally, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Thursday called for the authorization of $250 million in emergency spending for the Interstate 35W bridge. States are usually limited to $100 million for such emergencies, which is why the legislation is needed.
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“You can’t not deal with it. Bridges have to perform,” Dinges said.

“We’re seeing this as a wake-up call. It’s time to stop hitting the snooze button.”

It’s been obvious to me for years that America’s transportation infrastructure is taking far more than it can handle. That doesn’t mean I was predicting a disaster like this. But from 1982-2002, the U.S. population grew less than 20%percent while the time Americans spend in traffic jumped 236%—in other words, traffic becomes exponentially worse as the number of drivers increases. In 2001, the Texas Transportation Institute found that Americans spend three times as much time in traffic as they did 20 years ago. This numbers must have only become worse over the past six years.

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