After being closed for a year, a bridge over the Puyallup River reopened in 2019 with a strong new span and a new name. It even won a national award.
However, today, the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge is closed again after federal officials expressed concerns about an old part of the almost century-old bridge that used to carry about 15,000 vehicles a day. It does not have a set time to reopen because the city of Tacoma, Washington, needs to raise millions of dollars to clean and inspect it.
“It’s frustrating — and difficult to understand how we got here,” said Ed Wallace, whose Harley-Davidson motorcycle store has lost customers since the nearby bridge was closed.
Bridges serve an important purpose that is often overlooked until lives are lost or disrupted by a closure or collapse, like the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. That bridge collapsed when hit by a cargo ship, not due to poor maintenance. However, many others are in worse condition.
Around 42,400 US bridges are in bad shape, yet they carry about 167 million vehicles daily, according to the federal government. Four-fifths of them have issues with the legs supporting them or the arms holding their load. Over 15,800 of those bridges were also in bad shape ten years ago, according to an Associated Press analysis.
One of those consistently poor bridges — used by about 96,000 westbound vehicles daily on Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River in Rhode Island — was suddenly closed to traffic late last year, causing long delays as drivers took different routes. In March, the governor announced that the bridge needs to be demolished and replaced. This could cost up to $300 million and take at least two years to finish.
These closures show a nationwide problem.
“We have not maintained our infrastructure at the rate that we should for many, many years, and now we’re trying to play catch-up,” said Marsia Geldert-Murphey, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
When an old bridge is closed due to safety concerns, it disrupts daily commutes, business supply chains, and emergency response times by police, firefighters, and medical personnel. Yet many bridges still need to be replaced or repaired because the costs can reach millions or even billions of dollars.
A funding boost
A massive infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 allocated $40 billion to bridges over five years — the largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system, which began almost 70 years ago.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that law is already funding over 7,800 bridge projects. One of the most significant is a $3.6 billion project in Cincinnati to construct a long-awaited new bridge carrying traffic on Interstates 71 and 75 over the Ohio River at the Kentucky border.
But funding from the infrastructure law will only make a small impact in the estimated $319 billion of necessary bridge repairs nationwide, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
Pete Buttigieg told the AP that American bridges need a lot of repairs. He also said that if we fix the significant bridges soon, they are less likely to suddenly be closed or collapse.
Inspectors use a 0-9 scale to rate bridges. A rating of 7 or above is considered “good,” while a rating of 4 or below is considered “poor.” Bridges that are in the middle are considered “fair.” The average age of the nation's poor bridges is 70 years old.
Before the federal funding increase, the number of bridges in poor condition decreased by 22% over the past decade. However, more bridges have recently moved from good to fair condition.
Collapsing bridges
While potholes on bridges can shake cars, many of the most concerning problems are beneath the surface. Cracked concrete and rusting steel can weaken the support structures that hold a bridge up. When the condition of the support or superstructures gets too bad, a bridge is typically closed for safety reasons.
Though rare, bad bridges can eventually collapse.
The collapse of the Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis in 2007 during rush hour was partly due to design flaws. This led to the death of 13 people and injuries to 145 others. It also caused a financial loss estimated at $60 million due to increased travel time and operating costs for commuters and businesses.
In January 2022, a bridge collapsed over Fern Hollow Creek in Pittsburgh, causing injuries but no deaths. Investigators found that the steel legs had corroded, and inspectors had failed to recognize the severity of the problem.
National Transportation Safety Board member Michael Graham stated that the collapse of a bridge was not a random event but happened due to a lack of maintenance and repairs.
Financial challenges
Iowa has the most poor bridges, followed by Pennsylvania, Illinois and Missouri. The twin Burlington Street bridges in Iowa City, Iowa, show the financial difficulties faced by old bridges as they are owned by different entities.
The city’s part of the Burlington Street bridge was rated in poor condition in the 2023 and 2013 National Bridge Inventory. The inspection reports show many cracks and structural problems in the concrete bridge. The state’s bridge, built in 1968, is in much better condition.
Although the federal infrastructure law granted funds to analyze the bridges, it has been hard to fund the estimated $30 million cost of a replacement due to the split ownership.
City engineer Jason Havel mentioned that it’s not feasible to quickly fund the replacement of the bridge. It requires years of planning and dedicated funding.
Financial impacts
In Rhode Island, the I-195 Washington Bridge connecting Providence to East Providence had been facing issues. It was shut down when an engineer noticed that multiple steel tie rods in concrete beams at two piers had failed. A subsequent examination revealed widespread structural problems.
Joseph McHugh, a 40-year veteran in bridge and road construction, reviewed a preliminary engineering report created after the bridge’s closure as well as inspection reports from July 2022 and July 2023.
McHugh told the AP, “This failure didn’t happen suddenly. In my opinion, it should have been detected during an inspection, not by a contractor or whoever was monitoring the situation.”
The U.S. Department of Justice is looking into claims that false payment requests for the bridge’s construction, inspection, or repair were submitted to the federal government.
Marco Pacheco, the owner of a liquor store in a Portuguese neighborhood of East Providence, believes that the closure was caused by “mismanagement,” “negligence,” and “incompetence.” His business revenue has decreased by 20% since the bridge closure. He is particularly worried about the long-term effects.
“The traffic doesn’t come back immediately. People have changed their routines, their thinking, and so on,” Pacheco explained.
Business owners in Washington have similar worries about the indefinite closure of the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge, located in an industrial area near the Port of Tacoma. The city spent $42 million to replace a section leading up to the river several years ago. However, the bridge was closed again last October after the Federal Highway Administration expressed concerns that debris had prevented the inspection of potentially corroded steel connection points.
To clean and inspect the bridge, the city must first enclose it to prevent debris from falling into the river. However, the city does not have the over $6 million required for the project and has no way to cover a possible $280 million replacement.
An adjacent Interstate 5 bridge is a good alternative, but this means many drivers pass by an exit ramp without thinking about the Harley-Davidson store or other nearby businesses. At least one shop has already closed.
Wallace, the owner of the Harley-Davidson store, hopes that the city can reopen the bridge, even if only temporarily.
Wallace asks rhetorically, “Is there a danger? Yes, definitely, a very serious one for me as a business owner.”
