PA Bridges Rated Among Nation's Worst: Study

PENNSYLVANIA — The Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in Pittsburgh last week has underscored a more wide-reaching problem across the state. Pennsylvania has some of the nation's most structurally deficient spans, according to a study released Wednesday.

The American Road & Transportation Builders Association's annual analysis of the nation's bridges ranked Pennsylvania as having the nation's fifth-worst unsound spans. Five of the 20 most heavily traveled structurally deficient bridges in the county are in Philadelphia, the study said.

The study was released as Pittsburgh began the arduous process of cleaning up the ruins of the Fern Hollow Bridge, which fell into a ravine last Friday. The incident injured 10 people and triggered an inquiry by the National Transportation Safety Board, which indicated it might not release a final report on the collapse for 18 months or longer.

The association report indicated there are 167.5 million daily crossings on 43,578 structurally deficient U.S. bridges in poor condition. In Pennsylvania, 13 percent - or 3,198 of the state's 23,166 spans - have one or more key elements that are in poor or worse condition.

Nearly 1oo of the structurally deficient bridges are on the interstate highway system. That means 90.8 percent of the spans are on more local roads, many of which link major airports, ports, rail and truck terminals.

Pennsylvania has five of the 20 most heavily traveled deficient bridges in the nation. All are in the Philadelphia area:

• Interstate 95 over Fraley Street- 202,000 vehicles daily.

• Interstate 95 over Comly Street - 202,000 vehicles daily.

• Interstate 95 over Tacony St.and Bridge St.- 202,000 vehicles daily.

• Delaware Expressway over Sergeant & Huntingdon streets - 198,000 vehicles daily.

• Delaware Expressway over Palmer-Cumberland streets - 198,000 vehicles daily.

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