U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000


Skip to content
Facebook iconYouTube iconTwitter iconFlickr iconLinkedInInstagram

Policy and Governmental Affairs

FHWA Home / Policy & Governmental Affairs / 2002 Conditions and Performance

Conditions and Performance


Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges, and Transit:
2002 Conditions and Performance Report

Exhibit 11-23:

Year of Construction and Cumulative ADT - Concrete Superstructure Bridges (excluding prestressed concrete superstructures)

Exhibit 11-23

Exhibit 11-23 is a bar graph that shows the construction of concrete superstructure bridges, excluding prestressed concrete superstructures. The vertical axis measures number of bridges from 0 to 30,000 in increments of 5,000 bridges. The horizontal axis has 21 bars, one for each 5-year period between 1900 and 2000. New concrete superstructure bridges were less than 2,000 for each period to 1915, then rose sharply to 12,500 by 1930 and more than 14,000 by 1940. The figure dropped during WWII, then rose steadily again to a peak of more than 25,000 in 1956-60. The bars then decline steadily to 12,500 in 1976-80, rise to 14,000 by 1990, and drop to 11,000 in 2000. There are also two lines and a second vertical axis (measuring percentages from 0 to 100 in increments of 10 percent) in this chart. The first, representing cumulative percent of structure population, rises from 0 to 20 percent by 1935, 40 percent by 1955, 70 by 1970, 83 by 1985, and 100 by 2000. The other line, representing cumulative percentage of ADT, parallels the first line, except at 1 to 5 percentage points lower, up to 1960. At that point, the lines over lap and parallel each other except with ADT 1 to 5 percentage points over structure population.
Source: National Bridge Inventory.


Back to Chapter 11
Page last modified on November 7, 2014
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000