Crumbling GA Bridges Earmarked For Millions In Repairs

GEORGIA — About 15,000 bridges in poor condition, including 374 in Georgia, are targeted for repair and improvement under a five-year, $27 billion program announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The administration is releasing nearly $5.5 billion to states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and tribes this fiscal year to fund the program, which the administration said is “the single largest dedicated bridge investment” since the interstate highway system was authorized in the 1950s.

Georgia will receive a total of $45 in the current fiscal year and $225 million over five years.

Bridges in Georgia listed in poor condition include:

• DeKalb County: built in 1922, 31,650 daily crossings, urban other principal arterial bridge, Ponce De Leon over Lullwater Creek
• Fulton County: built in 1924, 21,890 daily crossings, urban minor arterial bridge, Mcdonough Blvd. over Norfolk-Southern RR
• Fulton County: built in 1948, 18,610 daily crossings, urban collector, Howell Mill Road over Peachtree Creek
• Bartow County: built in 1942, 6,320 daily crossings, urban collector, Sugar Valley Road over Nancy Creek

Here's how the bridges are described:

• Of the 14,964 bridges in the state, 374, or 2.5 percent, are classified as structurally deficient. This means one of the key elements is in poor or worse condition.
• This is down from 539 bridges classified as structurally deficient in 2016.
• The deck area of structurally deficient bridges accounts for 1.5 percent of total deck area on all structures.
• 1 of the structurally deficient bridges are on the Interstate Highway System. A total of 95.7 percent of the structurally deficient bridges are not on the National Highway System, which includes the Interstate and other key roads linking major airports, ports, rail and truck terminals.
• 1,605 bridges are posted for load, which may restrict the size and weight of vehicles crossing the structure.
• The state has identified needed repairs on 13,698 bridges at an estimated cost of $12.1 billion.
• This compares to 13,568 bridges that needed work in 2016.

The money earmarked by the Transportation Department cover only about a third of the 45,000 bridges nationwide identified as in poor condition in the $1 trillion infrastructure plan President Joe Biden signed into law in November. It authorized nearly $40 billion for repairs and upgrades.

Nancy Singer, a spokeswoman from the Federal Highway Commission, told Patch the $27 billion is authorized under the dedicated Bridge Formula Program to replace or repair highway bridges. It is not the only pot of money available to states to fix bridges.

States receive the money according to a needs-based formula, and state transportation departments will decide how the money is used, whether for major highway bridges that are part of the federal highway system or bridges under local jurisdictions, Singer said.

The states are being notified how much they’ll receive over five years for planning purposes, the report said.

The funding in the infrastructure plan promised to reach almost every corner of the country with money earmarked for bridges, ports, rail transit, safe water, the power grid, broadband internet and other critical infrastructure.

The White House issued a fact sheet Friday detailing how the administration is distributing infrastructure funds 60 days after the plan was approved.