Talk:National Bridge Inventory

does anyone know how many total bridges there are in the united states?

Number of Bridges
According to the FHWA a normal bridge spans 20' or more. Any bridge shorter than that is considered a short-span bridge, and is normally not included in the NBI. These short-span bridges are normally maintained by the local public works/services of the area they are located in. Each state's DOT manages their bridge inventory a little different, but must conform to the minimum standards set forth by the FHWA. Federal law requires any bridge of 20' or longer to be inspected at 2 year intervals or less. So to answer the question of how many bridges there are in the United States, you would have to go to each county and large city of everystate to count them. That would not include the number of private bridges that are owned by landowners, which are not accounted for by the government. Another structure that can be considered a short span bridge, is a culvert pipe with a diameter of 4'-5' and up. Hope this information is helpful.

in the news -- functionally-obsolete bridge on I-5 in Washington state
I am seeing "functionally obsolete" reference to bridge over Skagit River, between Seattle and the Canadian border (collapse was on May 23, 2013). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.63.16.20 (talk) 14:22, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

Erroneous statistic needs fixing
This statistic cannot be accurate: "In December 2008, 72,868 bridges in the United States (12.1%) were categorized as "structurally deficient", representing an estimated $48 billion in repairs, and 89,024 (12.2%) were rated "functionally obsolete", representing an estimated $91 billion in replacement costs." -- If 72,868 is 12.1% of the total, then 89,024 cannot be equal to 12.2% of the total bridges. The math doesn't work out. One or more of these numbers is clearly wrong, so this should be updated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.96.241.123 (talk) 19:21, 25 May 2013 (UTC)