Progress on Repairing Structurally Deficient Bridges; Substantially More Work (and Funding) Ahead

As more state residents venture out on Connecticut’s roadways in the aftermath of COVID’s peak and as fall foliage season arrives, data from the National Bridge Inventory points to work that’s overdue on bridges here and nationwide, even as progress is being made.  A recent review according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association highlights these data points:

• The state has identified needed repairs on 391 bridges. (This compares to 432 bridges that needed work in 2019.)
• Over the life of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Connecticut will receive a total of $605.8 million in bridge formula funds, which will help make needed repairs.
• Connecticut currently has access to $242.3 million of that total, and has committed $62.7 million towards 6 projects as of June 2023.
• Of the 4,362 bridges in the state, 219, or 5.0 percent, are classified as structurally deficient. This means one of the key elements is in poor or worse condition.  (This is down from 275 bridges classified as structurally deficient in 2019.)
• The deck area of structurally deficient bridges accounts for 6.9 percent of total deck area on all structures.

Photo byCT by the Numbers

The parameters of the work ahead is outlined by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, based on data compiled this summer from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) National Bridge Inventory (NBI).

Connecticut is ranked 34th in the nation in the percentage of structurally deficient bridges, and 40th in the nation in the number of structurally deficient bridges.  The state ranked 15th, however, in the percentage of structurally deficient bridge deck areas, at 7%. 

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration opened applications last month for nearly $10 billion in funding for fiscal years 2023-2026 through the competitive Bridge Investment Program’s “Large Bridge Project” category, which funds projects larger than $100 million across the country.

The Bridge Investment Program was established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which, according to federal officials, makes the single largest dedicated investment in bridges since the construction of the Interstate highway system: a total of $40 billion over five years to help ensure that “some of the nation’s most important bridges remain safe and operational, meet current and future traveler needs, support local economies, strengthen our supply chains, and create good-paying jobs across the country.”

Last December, state officials announced that the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) awarded the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) $158.2 million through their competitive Bridge Investment Program (BIP) to accelerate the rehabilitation of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge northbound span between New London and Groton. The bridge’s northbound span is the longest bridge in Connecticut, carrying five lanes of traffic and nearly 60,000 vehicles daily, and has been undergoing rehabilitation since 2020.

According to published reports in recent days, drivers may experience significant delays on Interstate 95 due to highway closures in the Norwalk and Westport area over the next month, with the northbound I-95 Exit 17 ramp closed, and the southbound Exit 17 ramp undergoing periodic closures of 15 minutes, as a bridge is replaced. The bridge on I-95 that goes over Saugatuck Avenue is to be replaced using what is described as accelerated bridge construction.

Of the 10 most heavily traveled bridges in Connecticut deemed as structurally deficient, five are in Fairfield County, three are in New Haven County; Hartford County and Middlesex County each have one.  All were originally built more than a half-century ago, prior to 1967; the oldest among them in 1950 and 1938.