4 Of NJ's 10 Most Structurally Deficient Bridges Are In Bergen

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Four of the top 10 most traveled structurally deficient bridges in New Jersey are in Bergen County, according to a new analysis by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association.

Of the four, three of them are on Route 17.

The bridge over the Hackensack River on Route 4 was ranked No. 3. It was built in 1931. There are more than 156,000 daily crossings on it.

The other three bridges, ranked No. 8, 9 and 10, respectively are:

• Route 17 over Central Avenue; built in 1931, 124,295 daily crossings.
• Route 17 over NYS & W RR Spur; built in 1932, 121,740 daily crossings.
• NJ 17 over NYS & W RR, Bergen County; built in 1931, 121,740 daily crossings.

The bridge on Route 4 over Grand Avenue was ranked No. 15 with more than 92,300 daily crossings. Two other bridges on Route 4, one over Palisade Avenue, the other over Teaneck Road, were ranked No. 21 and 22, respectively.

The bridge on Route 3 East over the Hackensack River and Meadowlands Parkway was ranked No. 23.

The analysis reported there are more than 612,000 bridges in the country; of those, 54,259 were rated structurally deficient. In New Jersey, there are 596 of them.

Inspectors rate bridge decks and support structures on a scale of zero to nine for deterioration and remedial action. A rating of nine means the bridge is in "excellent" condition. A rating of four or below means a bridge is classified as structurally deficient and in need of repair.

New Jersey state ranked 22nd in the country in highest percentage of bridges deemed to be in poor condition and 29th highest based on the actual number of such bridges.

The 596 structurally deficient bridges account for 8.8 percent of all bridges in New Jersey state.

The state said 2,241 bridges are in need of repairs and estimated it would cost $6.3 billion to fix them.

To see the full list of the most traveled structurally deficient bridges in New Jersey click here.

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