Here’s the lede and headline in Peter Bacque’s story in the Times-Dispatch about bridges in Virginia with structural problems: It will cost $3.5 billion to replace them all, just a half billion dollars shy of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s annual budget.
Sounds like a crisis! Ready to panic yet?
Here’s the less alarming news that appears in the body of the story: First of all, bridges that are “structurally deficient” are not necessarily “unsafe.” Second, the proportion of problem bridges in the state has been slowly, but steadily, getting smaller during the past 12 years, and is below the national average. This year, VDOT will spend about $150 million to maintain and repair the state’s bridges.
Bottom line: For $150 million a year, or about 1/3 of one percent of VDOT’s budget, we’re slowly working our way through the backlog of bridge repairs. There is no cause for alarm.
