Oberstar Says Too Many Bridges Deficient

As the third anniversary of the collapse of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis approaches, 20 percent of the nation's bridges are structurally deficient.  In Minnesota that number is 12 percent.

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, chaired by Minnesota congressman Jim Oberstar, held a hearing to assess progress on the bridge inspection program.

Witnesses testified states are doing more to inspect bridges and identify problems in aging bridges, but programs across the nation remain under-equipped and under-funded.

Oberstar's  has introduced a bill which would require states to certify that they have no structurally failing bridges before they are allowed to shift federal bridge funding to other purposes, which they currently are allowed to do.

The 8th District DFL-er says it would also pay for new scientific testing and inspection technologies for bridges across the nation. Currently, over 73,000 bridge across the nation have been rated as "structurally deficient."