The State of Tennessee's Bridges

A new report by the group Transportation for America highlights the problems in our country with our aging infrastructure. Their main website: http://t4america.org/ has a report on the state of bridges in our nation. The site includes an interactive map that allows you to get information about where you live, or see info on a state by state basis. Tennessee performs better than most other states, but still has a significant number of structurally deficient bridges. A report specific to Tennessee can be found here. It includes a ranking of the 95 counties based on the percentage of their bridges that are deficient. The data is based on a required federal bridge survey of all structures greater than 20 feet. Therefore, there are a significant number of locally maintained structures that are too small to be included in this study. For this reason, it will not give you a complete picture of the needs of your transportation system, but still can show you where your county ranks generally.

Out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Tennessee ranks 44th in terms of deficiency. This is one report where it is good to be in the 40's as the report orders the states with number 1 being the most deficient and number 51 being in the best condition. Although Tennessee generally looks good compared to the rest of the nation there is still tremendous concern for an increasing backlog of repairs which are building up faster than funding is available to address the needs. Nationwide, Federal estimates indicate that the United States needs approximately $71 Billion to eliminate the backlog of needed repairs while on an annual basis, only $5.2 Billion has been allocated for bridge repair funding. As the years go by, more and more bridges are aging beyond their designed use and the problem is only expected to grow.