Extreme weather is causing U.S. bridges to age prematurely, and there's no simple answer to the problem.

In Lewiston, Maine, a bridge was closed when
pavement started to buckle. (WMTM, Maine photo)

Climate change and extreme weather are destroying U.S. bridges in what is quickly becoming a national crisis. "America’s bridges, a quarter of which were built before 1960, were already in need of repair," reports Coral Davenport of The New York Times. "But now, extreme heat and increased flooding linked to climate change are accelerating the disintegration of the nation’s bridges."

This summer's debacles include flooding that caused a Midwestern bridge to collapse into the Big Sioux River and a bridge's closure in Lewiston, Maine when the "pavement buckled from fluctuating temperatures," Davenport writes. Urban areas aren't exempt from bridge problems either. During scorching heat, "New York City’s Third Avenue Bridge, connecting the Bronx and Manhattan, got stuck in the open position for hours."

In most cases, bridges age slowly. But Paul Chinowsky, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado, who researches the effects of climate change on infrastructure, told Davenport, "We have a bridge crisis that is specifically tied to extreme weather events. . . . It’s getting so hot that the pieces that hold the concrete and steel, those bridges can literally fall apart like Tinkertoys."

When U.S. bridges become unsafe or worse, collapse, and require closure, a supply chain domino effect begins. "In 2022, a 30-foot section of the bridge on the California-Arizona border of Interstate 10, along a major trucking route from Phoenix to the port of Los Angeles, was swept away during record rainfall," Davenport reports. "That washout followed a 2015 collapse of another Interstate 10 span. . . . Each closure added an estimated $2.5 million per day to trucking costs because of delays and additional fuel."

Many states have started planning climate-resilient bridges, but they are already running behind schedule. Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, told Davenport, "We’re learning from the events that are being thrown at us, and trying to change and build for what climate change throws next, but it’s a moving target."