Oklahoma's Bridges Are Getting Better

<p>Newly released data show the number of structurally deficient bridges in Oklahoma and across the nation has gone down.</p>

Wednesday, August 9th 2017, 5:45 am

By: Amy Avery

Newly released data show the number of structurally deficient bridges in Oklahoma and across the nation has gone down.

The American Road & Transportation Builders Association says the number of structurally deficient bridges in the U.S. has been reduced by 24.5 percent since 2007. Federal bridge data shows Oklahoma has seen one of the biggest decreases in the last 10 years.

Currently, Oklahoma has 3,460 structurally deficient bridges, which is 15 percent of the total bridges in the state. That percentage is the 8th most in the country. In 2007, Oklahoma had 5,928 structurally deficient bridges. That's a 41.6 percent change in the right direction over that time, the 8th biggest negative percentage change in the nation.

Oklahoma Department of Transportation

To approximately compare Oklahoma's 23,000 bridges with California's 24,000 and Pennsylvania's 22,000, California corrected 57 percent of their bad bridges and Pennsylvania only 24.5 percent over that same time period.

In Texas, only three percent of the 53,000 bridges are structurally deficient.

","published":"2017-08-09T10:45:02.000Z","updated":"2017-08-09T13:03:38.000Z","summary":"

Newly released data show the number of structurally deficient bridges in Oklahoma and across the nation has gone down.

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