Conditions and Performance Chapter Listing

Conditions and Performance Home Page

Introduction

Summary

Road Conditions

Bridge Conditions

Transit System Conditions

Rural and Urban Bridges

As indicated in Chapter 2, 78.0 percent of all bridges are located in rural areas. In 1998, 130,911 of the total 454,664 rural bridges (28.8 percent) were deficient. Bridges in urban areas are more likely to be deficient than those in rural areas. In 1998, 41,661 of the total 128,312 urban bridges (32.5 percent) were deficient. Exhibit 3-25 shows that deficient rural bridges are more likely to be structurally deficient, while deficient urban bridges are more likely to be functionally obsolete.

Bridge condition in both urban and rural areas has been improving in recent years. Exhibit 3-25 shows that the number of deficient rural bridges has declined from 156,863 (34.1 percent of the total) in 1992 to 130,911 (28.8 percent). The number of deficient urban bridges has declined from 42,489 (36.8 percent) in 1992 to 41,661 (32.5 percent) in 1998. The percentage of rural bridges that are structurally deficient has declined from 22.2 percent in 1992, to 17.4 percent in 1998, while the percentage of urban bridges that are structurally deficient declined from 14.1 percent to 11.0 percent over the same period. The number of urban bridges that are functionally obsolete grew from 26,228 to 27,588 over this 6year period, though this represented a decline in percentage terms, from 22.7 percent to 21.5 percent. In summary, since 1992, the reduction in the number of structurally deficient bridges has been much more pronounced (20.6 percent to 16.0 percent) than the reduction in functionally obsolete bridges (14.0 percent to 13.6 percent).

Exhibit 3-25. Rural and Urban Bridge Deficiencies, 1992-1998