Oberstar: 25% of bridges still “structurally deficient”
DFL Rep. Jim Oberstar held a House Transportation Committee hearing today to delve into the safety of the nation's bridges. Oberstar held the hearing to see what progress has been made on bridge inspection programs across the country.
In his opening comments, Oberstar said 3 years after the I-35W bridge collapsed, a quarter of the nation's bridges are still determined to be "structurally deficient." In a news release, Obertar said "over 73,000 bridges across the nation have been rated as 'structurally deficient."
Oberstar is proposing legislation that would require state to certify that they have no structurally deficient bridges before they are allowed to shift federal bridge funding to other purposes.
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