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."

Infrastructure bill has much for rural America

One square equals $1 billion. (Washington Post chart; click to enlarge)

The $1.2 trillion infrastructure package Congress passed on Friday has much for rural America. Here's some of what we found, and more will likely be forthcoming later as we continue to comb through the gargantuan bill, which has:

• $550 billion in new spending, which is mostly paid for but would add $256 billion to $350 billion to the deficit over the next decade without raising taxes. Most of the funding comes from unspent pandemic relief and tightening enforcement on reporting gains from cryptocurrency investments. (The National Association of Counties has a more detailed breakdown of the bill's funding sources.) Moody's Analytics estimates it could add as many as 660,000 jobs by 2025.
• $110 billion for roads and bridges, with specific earmarks for Appalachian and Alaskan highways (Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, "were instrumental" in crafting the bipartisan package, according to The Washington Post.)
• $66 billion for railroads. Passenger rail gets a lot of that money (the Post says Amtrak's expansion would be the largest ever, but the bill also has funding for freight-train safety.
• $65 billion to expand broadband to under-served communities, including rural areas, including $14 billion for subsidizing internet bills for the poor, and $2 billion for the Agriculture Department's Reconnect Loan and Grant Program for rural areas.
• $65 billion to update power lines and cables and invest upgrades to protect utilities from cyberattacks. It also has funding for renewable energy development.
• At least $55 billion for water infrastructure, including $10 billion to clean up the "forever chemicals" per- and polyfluoroalkyls, and money for drinking water in tribal communities.
• $47 billion for "resilience," mainly for cybersecurity upgrades to infrastructure and for addressing droughts, floods, coastal erosion and other extreme-weather issues.
• $21 billion for cleanup of abandoned wells and mines.
• $10 million over five years for the new Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program through a new Build America Bureau. "The program would provide financial, technical and legal assistance; assistance with development-phase activities; and information on innovative financing practices to rural and Tribal communities. It would sunset after five years," NACo reports.
• $2 billion over five years to fund the newly established Rural Surface Transportation Grant program for road and bridge projects. Under the new program, counties can apply directly to the Transportation Department for projects. The federal government will cover 80% of the costs for approved projects.
• The Digital Equality Act of 2021, which prioritizes federal broadband funding for rural and other underserved communities.
• Additional counties for the Appalachian Regional Commission service area; also, ARC is eligible for new funding initiatives. Manchin's wife Gayle is ARC's federal co-chair.
• Three more years for the Secure Rural Schools program, which the Forest Service funds to make up for losses in timber revenue.

Post Fact Checker Glenn Kessler debunks claims that the bill isn't mainly for infrastructure.

What's in the bipartisan infrastructure bill? How's it funded?

What's in the bipartisan infrastructure bill pending in the Senate? The Wall Street Journal reports:

"According to the White House, the bill will include $110 billion in funding for roads, bridges and major projects, as well as $39 billion to modernize and make public transit more accessible to the disabled and elderly. The deal also includes a $66 billion investment in rail maintenance, modernization and expansion. The legislation will provide $11 billion in funding for highway and pedestrian safety programs. A total of $7.5 billion will go to implementing a network of electric vehicle chargers, and another $7.5 billion will be used for zero-emission or low-emission buses and ferries. Ports and airports will be boosted with $42 billion in new spending."

The next paragraph of the WSJ story has more rural resonance: "$50 billion to bolster the country’s infrastructure generally against climate change and cyberattacks," which threaten rural water systems. "$55 billion will go toward clean drinking water and $65 billion will go toward broadband infrastructure and development. The deal invests $21 billion in removing pollution from soil and groundwater, job creation in energy communities and a focus on economic and environmental justice. The legislation will include $73 billion to update and expand the power grid," which will have much rural construction.

And how will it be paid for? "a variety of revenue streams, including more than $200 billion in repurposed funds originally intended for coronavirus relief but left unused; about $50 billion will come from delaying a Trump-era rule on Medicare rebates; and $50 billion from certain states returning unused unemployment insurance supplemental funds. The negotiators also expect about $30 billion will be generated from applying information-reporting requirements for cryptocurrency; nearly $60 billion will come from economic growth spurred by the spending; and $87 billion from past and future sales of wireless spectrum space. A series of smaller pay-fors are expected to make up the difference."

And what's next? "House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said Tuesday that House Democrats may want to tweak the bill to include more climate provisions. But he has also acknowledged such a move could put the bill’s chances in jeopardy in the Senate. If the House changes the bill and passes its own version, the Senate will need to vote on the House version. If they cannot pass the House version, the chambers could also go to a conference committee where they would try to bridge the gap."

Report: economy could grow at fastest rate in 40 years, with agriculture sharing in the recovery

American farmers are sharing in a robust economic recovery from the pandemic, according to the most recent quarterly CoBank report. The GDP could grow by 7 percent in 2021, its fastest rate since 1984, the report projects. 

"Many in the agricultural industry are experiencing the best market conditions since 2013," says the report. "Prices are hovering near multiyear highs as strong exports and dwindling supplies have solidified a healthy outlook for much of the farm economy."

The Agriculture Department has projected record exports of $157 billion in 2021, a 16% increase from last year, and overall farm income is predicted to be 20% higher than its 10-year average as farmers bring in more revenue and rely less on direct federal aid, the report says.

Fertilizer prices have almost doubled from a year ago, and "financially strong" farmers are planning to plant 3% more corn, soybean and wheat, which should bring more business to farm supply retailers. But drought remains a concern in a few parts of the Upper Midwest, according to the report.

President Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure package could prove transformative to the long-term rural economy if approved, since it would bring hundreds of billions of dollars to expand and upgrade the electrical grid, water systems, broadband connection, and strengthen more traditional infrastructure such as roads, bridges and dams, wrote CoBank vice president Dan Kowalski.

Biden to unveil $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan today with plenty of rural resonance

President Biden will introduce a $2.25 trillion jobs-and-infrastructure package today in Pittsburgh. More details on the American Jobs Plan will be available later—and rural interests will be looking closely to see what’s in it for them—but the broad strokes are known. Click here for a breakdown.

"Biden’s plan will include approximately $650 billion to rebuild the country’s infrastructure, such as its roads, bridges, highways and ports," The Washington Post reports. "The plan will also include in the range of $400 billion toward home care for the elderly and the disabled, $300 billion for housing infrastructure and $300 billion to revive U.S. manufacturing."

The plan also includes $100 billion for broadband, $100 billion for public schools, $25 billion for child-care facilities, $18 billion for veterans' hospitals, $111 billion for water infrastructure, and $12 billion for community colleges, Alicia Parlapiano reports for The New York Times. Of the $115 billion earmarked for roads and bridges, the plan calls for modernizing 20,000 miles of roads and highways and repairing 10,000 smaller bridges. On top of the $2.25 trillion in new spending, the plan will include about $400 billion in clean-energy credits.

The eight-year plan would be paid for by 15 years of increased corporate taxes to avoid deficit spending, Jim Tankersley and Emily Cochrane report for the Times. The Republican Congress and President Trump cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21%. Biden would make it 28% and have rules meant to make multinational corporations to pay more tax on profits they earn and book overseas.

The plan "forms one part of the 'Build Back Better' agenda that the administration aims to introduce. [Press Secretary Jen] Psaki has said the administration within weeks will introduce a second legislative package," the Post reports. "That second package is expected to include an expansion in health insurance coverage, an extension of the expanded child tax benefit, and paid family and medical leave, among other efforts aimed at families."

New toolkit aims to help rural areas better access infrastructure grants

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced this week an initiative aimed at helping rural communities get more grant money for infrastructure projects. The Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) initiative includes an online toolkit to help more easily find and complete applications for infrastructure project grants.

"While only 19 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, 45% of all roadway fatalities and 34% of all public highway-rail grade crossing fatalities occur on rural roads, and the fatality rate on rural roads is two times higher than on urban roads," Rhonda Brooks reports for Farm Journal's Ag Professional.

As Congress considers rural aid in next stimulus bill, survey shows how much 2019's wild weather hurt rural Nebraska

As Congress considers rural and agricultural aid for the next stimulus bill, a new survey illustrates how rural areas in the big farming state of Nebraska were already hurting before the pandemic, due to record wet weather in 2019. Parts of other Midwestern states suffered likewise.

According to the latest annual survey from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Department of Agricultural Economics, severe weather harmed more than half of Nebraska's rural communities in 2019.

"Last year, flood damage in the state was estimated at more than $1.3 billion, including $449 million in damage to roads, levees and other infrastructure. Twenty-seven bridges were damaged," The Grand Herald Independent reports. "Agricultural damages included $440 million in crop losses; and $400 million in cattle losses. Livestock losses included 700 hogs who drowned on a farm near Fremont."

Idaho Statesman investigation reveals some private contractors cheated the state on tests of road repairs

Here's a great example of watchdog journalism: The Idaho Statesman recently published an investigation revealing that private contractors meant to repair infrastructure were fleecing the state.

"Companies that are responsible for checking the quality of Idaho’s road materials have altered the results of their asphalt tests thousands of times, government documents show. Those changes may have allowed contractors that repair and build Idaho’s highway infrastructure to get bonus payments when they should have been penalized for substandard work — or even forced to tear up the asphalt and replace it," Audrey Dutton reports for the Statesman.

According to a Statesman analysis of four highway projects, the state paid contractors about $8 million, including $190,000 in bonuses, for asphalt whose test results were altered "dozens or hundreds of times," Dutton reports.

"For decades, Idaho has paid private contractors to repair and build the state’s vast system of highways, roads and bridges. They are trusted to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and to ensure the state’s infrastructure is built to last and is safe for drivers," Dutton reports. "Most of Idaho’s tests are performed by private contractors, since the state cut back on resources it needed to run them in-house."

Tractor-trailers and farm equipment have become much larger over the past few decades, which causes increased wear and tear on the nation's roads. Since many of those road miles are in rural areas, states can pay disproportionate amounts of money to fix rural infrastructure. The bottom line: road upkeep is expensive enough without the added cost of shady contractors.

Rural areas find road and bridge upkeep more difficult as traffic grows and trucks get heavier but taxes remain taboo

"Throughout much of the Midwest and South, the rural transportation system is crumbling. Two-thirds of the nation’s freight emanates from rural areas. Traffic volume has increased. And over the years, tractor-trailers and farm equipment have been supersized, ballooning in length, breadth and weight," Patricia Cohen reports for The New York Times. "A legally loaded semi-trailer truck can produce 5,000 to 10,000 times the road damage of one car according to some estimates, said Benjamin J. Jordan, director of the Wisconsin Transportation Information Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Roads and bridges have not kept up."

Many state and county governments are finding it difficult to keep rural roads in repair, Cohen reports. Though rural areas have only 19 percent of the nation's population, 68% of the nation's total road miles are in rural areas. Who pays for road repairs depends: county or city governments generally pay for local road repairs, and states generally pay for highway repairs. Some of that money comes from gas taxes at the federal and state level, with rural areas in the West and South relying more heavily on federal money to pay for roads.

A few states, like Illinois, also empower counties to assess additional taxes specifically for road repair. States are sometimes leery of implementing local gas taxes or property taxes to raise money for road repair since it's generally unpopular with voters, Cohen reports. Al Rinka, the highway commissioner in Trempeleau County, Wisconsin, where Cohen focused her story, told her that taxpayers need a “culture change.”

Cohen writes, “Someone will beg to have a road repaired, Mr. Rinka said. ‘I’ll say, “O.K., I’ll fix your road, and you’re going to see an increase in your property tax.” “Oh, no, no,” they say, “I don’t want that.’””

Thousands of U.S. bridges need repair; look up local data

About 178 million vehicles daily cross more than 47,000 U.S. bridges urgently in need of repair, according to the 2019 Bridge Report compiled by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, Kate Queram reports for Route Fifty. The report is based on an analysis of the Department of Transportation's National Bridge Inventory database, and has data for states and congressional districts. (The database has local data.)

QUream writes, "Structurally deficient bridges are not 'imminently unsafe, but they are in need of attention,' according to the report. In addition to the 47,052 bridges considered in poor condition, an additional 69,000 are operating under weight limits or other protective measures designed to reduce stress on the structures. In total, there are nearly 235,000 bridges across the country that need structural repair, rehabilitation or replacement . . . Completing all the necessary repairs would cost nearly $171 billion."

The number of structurally deficient bridges declined steadily over the last five years, and very slightly over the last two – from 7.7% of the nation's bridges in 2017 to 7.6% in 2018 – partly because of the Federal Highway Administration's recent redefinition of the term "structurally deficient." The new definition is narrower, and no longer includes "bridges where the overall structural evaluation was rated in poor or worse condition, or with insufficient waterway openings," Queram reports.

Alison Premo Black, chief economist for the road and bridge builders' group, conducted the analysis. He said, "At the current pace, it would take more than 80 years to replace or repair the nation's structurally deficient bridges."

Spending bill has more for bridges, but even less for BUILD grants, most of which went to rural counties in 2018

Rural counties, as a whole, didn't gain much if anything from the federal spending bill signed last week. It included an extra $75 million for bridge repairs compared to 2018, which one policy expert called the "biggest identifiable win for rural counties," Dave Nyczepir reports for Route Fifty.

However, the bill included only $900 million for Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grants, down from $1.5 billion last year. Seventy percent of BUILD grants in 2018 went to rural counties for infrastructure projects, Nyczepir reports. The grants, once known as TIGER grants, began as part of the stimulus package in the Great Recession.

Bridges are one of the top priorities this year for the National Association of Counties, according to Jessa Jennings, its associate legislative director for transportation and infrastructure. "I have no doubt that this does not address the backlog," Jennings told Nyczepir. "I’m sure we need more funding, but with the state of the bridges and roads as it is … an increase for the bridge program is definitely a big win for us."

The American Society of Civil Engineers says 9.1 percent of U.S. bridges — about 56,000 — are structurally deficient, and estimates that $123 billion is needed for repairs and maintenance of bridges nationwide.

Transportation Dept. says competitive grants were 64% rural in last round; last one under Obama was only 20% rural

Non-metropolitan areas got 64 percent of the money in the last round of a competitive grant program that funds transportation projects, the Department of Transportation said in press release. "That’s a reversal from the Obama administration, which in its last year in office provided just $102 million in grants to rural areas. That was just above the 20 percent minimum required by the law that established the program" in 2009, as part of President Obama's economic-recovery bill, Andrew Taylor reports for The Associated Press.

Nebraska Department of Transportation map

Some of the rural designations on the department's detailed list of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants are debatable; for example, a $25 million grant for a southern beltway of Lincoln, Neb., is classified as rural, as is a $25 million boost for a connector road in suburban Loudoun County, Virginia, that opponents call "an outer Beltway" of Washington, D.C. The list says it will provide "safer, more efficient and reliable access to the western, more rural portion of Loudoun County."

Nevertheless, the program "is focused more on projects in rural areas that turned out for Donald Trump in the 2016 election," Taylor writes. "That means more road and rail projects in GOP strongholds such as Idaho, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, and fewer 'greenways,' 'complete streets' and bike lanes."

While the list said 64 percent of the money was going rural, its definition of rural was broad: anything outside an "urbanized area" as defined by the Census Bureau. That is even broader than the typically broad definition of rural, "non-metropolitan." For example, one of the "rural" grants was $8 million to redo several blocks of a major street in the state capital of Kentucky, Frankfort, population 25,000. A city must have 50,000 people to be the core city of a metropolitan area.

The release said a record $39 million was going to projects on Native American reservations; more than half of that is going to rebuild a road in the Lower Brule Sioux reservation in South Dakota.

Other than those above, the largest grants listed as rural were $25 million for improvements of a major truck route in Nogales, Ariz.; $17 million for the riverfront in Burlington, Iowa; $16.6 million to finish rebuilding US 212, the Beartooth Highway, in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming; $16 million to repair the route for Amtrak's Southwest Chief in Kansas and Colorado; $15 million for climbing lanes on Interstate 15 in Utah; and  $13.1 million for streets in Immokalee, Fla.

The largest urban projects were $20 million for a port in Baltimore; $20 million for a freeway in Rhode Island; $19.9 million for a road-railroad grade separation in Raleigh; $18.3 million for a brudge in North Bergen, N.J.; $$13.25 million for a bridge in a suburb of Charleston, S.C.; $13 million for a port in St. Bernard, La.; $12.7 million for the port of Mobile; and $12.6 million for a new bus route in Atlanta.

In 2013 about two-thirds of TIGER funding went to Democratic districts, which tend to be urban. Trump twice sought to eliminate the program, but Congress tripled its budget to $1.5 billion in last month's spending bill, which he signed.

"Of the 41 grants announced by the Trump administration, 25 totaling $271 million were awarded to projects in congressional districts represented by Republicans," Taylor reports. "Districts represented by Democrats garnered 14 projects and $190 million. Two grants worth $25 million went to projects spanning district lines." Not counting those two, GOP districts got 64 percent of the grants and 59 percent of the money; Republicans hold 55 percent of the seats in the House.

Trump infrastructure plan is 25% rural, but states and localities would bear most financial burden for projects

Working on a water line near Torrey, Utah (Photo from National Rural Water Association)

President Trump announced his long-awaited infrastructure plan today, calling for federal investment of $200 billion, $50 billion of it designated for rural areas. But most of the money would have to come from state and local governments. UPDATE, Feb. 14: "Hardly anyone believes that $200 billion federal dollars will produce an additional $1.3 trillion investment from non-federal sources, especially when state and local budgets are being squeezed by rising costs for education and health care," writes William Galston of the Brookings Institution.

"The bulk of the dollars in the Rural Infrastructure Program will be allocated to state governors, giving states the flexibility to prioritize their communities’ needs," the plan says. "The remaining funds will be distributed through rural performance grants to encourage the best use of taxpayer dollars." The plan calls for "reducing regulatory barriers" to infrastructure projects, including faster permitting, with a “one agency, one decision” structure for environmental reviews, which could last no longer than two years.

The plan says it is designed to spur investment of $1.5 billion in infrastructure, the great majority of it from state and local governments and private sources. "Critics say that will lead to higher state and local taxes, and an increased reliance on user fees, such as tolls, water and sewer fees, transit fares and airline ticket taxes," David Schaper reports for NPR. "Half of the funding, $100 billion, will be used as incentives to entice cities, counties and states to raise at least 80 percent of the infrastructure costs themselves. . . .That's a radical departure from the way many projects are funded now. Funding for federal-aid highways, including interstates, is usually allocated in an 80-20 federal-state split."

Schaper reports, "Critics worry that would lead to only projects that could generate revenue, such as toll roads or bridges, getting funded." Revenue-generating projects are usually in urban areas; rural areas tend to rely more on direct government support. The plan also has a subsidy for the Rural Utilities Service, a Department of Agriculture agency that funds broadband, electric, water and wastewater projects, and new mineral-lease revenues to fund projects in national parks and on other public lands infrastructure. It also opens the door to sales of assets by government-owned utilities: the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Southwestern Power Administration, and the Bonneville Power Administration in the Northwest, The Daily Yonder reports.

Schaper adds, "Senior White House officials who briefed reporters over the weekend say the plan is aimed at fixing the current system of funding infrastructure that they say is broken in two ways. The first is that the country has been under-investing in infrastructure, leading a state of growing disrepair. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives the nation a grade of D+ for the condition of transit, highway, bridge, rail, water and other infrastructure, and says the country is in need of an investment of $2 trillion more than is currently budgeted. The second way the White House says the system is broken is in the lengthy federal permitting process, which officials say can take five to 10 years or longer, driving up costs."

If Trump can't revive coal, West Virginians hope he can at least fix state's highways

Dubbed The Bridge to Nowhere, this West Virginia road
was never completed (USA Today photo by Jasper Colt) 

In West Virginia, where President Trump scored an overwhelming victory, some say his promise to 'bring coal back" and his pledge of $1 trillion for infrastructure are equally important. Rick Hampson reports for USA Today. That's because in West Virginia, in addition to having lost coal jobs, many rural areas lack highways that are easy to traverse. And if Trump can't bring back coal, the hope is that he can at least improve roads and make isolated areas more accessible.

Ray Bailey, the assessor in McDowell County, one of the nation's poorest counties and where Trump got 74 percent of the vote, told Hampson, “If we could get highways in here, we wouldn’t have to depend on coal." Gordon Lambert, a county commissioner, a Democrat and a Trump voter, told him, “If we don’t get our highways this time, we won’t get them in our lifetime.’’

Hampson writes, "Since 1960, when the coal industry began to collapse, McDowell County’s population has declined from 71,000 (third largest in the state) to 21,000 (29th). Only one in three adults works for a living, and the largest employers are the schools and two prisons. Last year even Walmart pulled out. The lack of highways has exacerbated the isolation that for two centuries has been Appalachia’s curse."

One problem is that when coal was king there was no reason for highways, Hampson writes. "Coal was mined by people who lived near mines, and taken away by rail and river. When the interstate highway system was built, it was easy to bypass a state so mountainous that the average cost per mile of construction was as much as eight times higher than in a place like Kansas." Many thought the answer would be the King Coal Highway and Coalfields Expressway, "which would crisscross southern West Virginia, bypassing Route 52 and its ilk. They’ve been on the planning board for decades, but so far only six drivable miles have been constructed."

West Virginia also has the The Highway in the Middle of Nowhere, "a 1.5 mile roadbed constructed in 17 years ago but still unpaved and unconnected," Hampson writes. "And, at the eastern end of The Highway that Time Forgot, near the Virginia line, there is The Bridge to Nowhere. The twin-span, four-lane, 20-story structure was completed a decade ago. But it dead-ends into the side of the aptly named Stony Ridge."

More than 55,000 U.S. bridges are structurally deficient; county-level data and maps available

Nearly 56,000 U.S. bridges are structurally deficient, says the annual state level bridge report released from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. That includes 25 percent of Rhode Island bridges, 21 percent in Iowa, 20 percent in Pennsylvania and South Dakota, 17 percent in West Virginia and 15 percent in North Dakota, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Overall, in 25 states at least nine percent of bridges are considered deficient.

A 2016 poll by the Association of Equipment Managers found that 46 percent of voters—53 percent Republicans, 41 percent Democrats—believe U.S. infrastructure has gotten worse off in the last five years. The poll found that 80 to 90 percent of respondents believe roads, bridges and energy grids are in some or extreme need of repair.

Here's a Washington Post county-level map of structurally deficient bridges and a detailed example of McKean County, Pennsylvania; For an interactive version click here; for a larger versions of either map below, click on it)

This item, originally published Monday, Feb. 20, has been updated.