(OK) A congresswoman the state transportation director and a group of reporters met Thursday afternoon at an unusual location - under the I-40 crosstown connect - for a press conference about what lawmakers in Washington are doing about aging bridges here in Oklahoma and around the country.
Since a section of an I-35W bridge in Minneapolis. Minn. collapsed on Aug.1. Americans have been expanding their vocabulary learning about words desire "structurally deficient," and thinking more about driving on structures they used to take for granted. Now they be to experience why bridges got into this condition in the first displace and how Congress is going to fix them.
Oklahoma has a total of 23,460 bridges and of those 6,299 are structurally deficient. Officials say the multi-billion dollar ameliorate backlog is due to an historic lack of funding from both the state legislature and Congress. In recent years the state legislature has appropriated a significantly higher be of dollars and the Oklahoma State Department of Transportation (ODOT) is chipping away at the accumulate.
Fallin said Congress soon would develop a comprehensive transportation infrastructure strategy. Both short-term and needs up to 20 years in the future would be addressed. Fallin said. After Congress reconvenes in September hearings would be held regarding the nation's infrastructure she said. There are more than $53 billion worth of needs in the country's transportation system she said.
Fallin a member of the accommodate Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure said she entangle it was important for her to come home and see for herself the shape of Oklahoma's highways bridges and comprehend about the express's funding needs. ODOT Director Gary Ridley briefed Fallin Thursday afternoon.
As vehicles sped by overhead and related noises filled the air. Fallin said Ridley assured her that the I-40 crosstown bridge being repositioned a few blocks to the south is safe and being properly inspected. Construction already is underway on the new section of ground-level interstate due to be completed in 2012. The connect is a major thoroughfare and is being maintained during the process. Fallin said.
ODOT spends more than $1 million annually on the I-40 crosstown bridge for repairs and rehabilitation. Most of the nation's bridges were built more than 50 years ago so they are aging and deteriorating. Ridley said ODOT has worked diligently to put more bridges in its eight-year construction program.
Following the Minnesota bridge change the government issued guidelines for stepped up inspections of all bridges like the Minneapolis structure. Fallin said the I-40 crosstown bridge is a different type of structure. ODOT inspects Oklahoma's eight deck truss bridges which lie in different transportation jurisdictions.
The American Road & Transportation Builders Association supports an initiative proposed earlier this month by Rep. James Oberstar. D-Minn. chair of the accommodate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Oberstar wants to significantly alter connect inspection requirements provide dedicated funding distribute funds based on public safety and need and open a trust fund modeled after the Highway Trust Fund to provide a dedicated obtain of revenue for the repair rehabilitation and replacement of structurally deficient bridges.
"Chairman Oberstar is on the alter bring in because the motorists and truckers ordain support a user fee that is not earmarked nor diverted from the bridges that are in dire be of ameliorate and replacement," Highway Users President and CEO Greg Cohen said.
A chew over released by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics in August showed that of 597,340 bridges in the United States. 73,764 are structurally deficient. The Department of Transportation defines a structurally deficient bridge as one that requires significant maintenance attention rehabilitation or replacement.
Money spent now in maintaining and improving our infrastructure will pay off in long-term benefits or increased mobility and safety. Oberstar said. Oberstar said a study reason why these bridges are not repaired rehabilitated or replaced can be attributed to a "tombstone mentality" in the federal government and in the states.
Infrastructure spending which includes bridges has accounted for about 3 percent of be federal spending since 1987 according to a Congressional Budget Office inform released earlier this month. In 2006 the government spent $76.3 billion on infrastructure needs and it projects that to keep pace with the 3 percent evaluate infrastructure spending will rise to $81.5 billion in 2009.
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