Recent bridge closures in Maryland, Connecticut and Rhode Island show how much we rely on certain access routes. These Northeast experts suggest this change.
When the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in Baltimore, it was a disaster not only because of the enormity of the damage, but also because the accident blocked access to one of the busiest US ports
It was a similar scenario in Rhode Island when the Washington Bridge suddenly closed in December due to structural deficiencies. The closure not only caused traffic delays, but greatly affected local businesses. In Connecticut, a recent highway fire destroyed a bridge leading to a temporary one Local schools closed due to the resulting traffic.
Whether it's accidental closures or repairs, bridge outages can cause a lot of problems for communities, and these traffic and economic headaches may be a preview of what's to come. More than one-third of bridges in the United States need some kind of major repair or replacement, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association.
That means our infrastructure needs to be made more resilient to deal with the shutdown, he said Serena Alexanderassociate professor of civil and environmental engineering and public policy and urban affairs at Northeastern University.
Alexander said recent investments in bridge and road maintenance — and transportation infrastructure — have helped, but there's still a lot of work to be done.
“If you look at the numbers over the last few years, you'll see that the nation's share of bridges that are generally in poor condition is slowly improving,” Alexander said. “But that said, we have so many old bridges and there needs to be a lot more of them to create a problem to get our transportation infrastructure in good shape.”
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However, the country tends to shy away from spending on maintenance, he said Stephen Flynnprofessor of political science and founding director of the Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern University.
Flynn said many small states, like Rhode Island, were able to build their current infrastructure under the New Deal — the public works program of the 1930s — but lacked the financial resources to maintain it.
The cost of making these repairs is not small. The estimated cost to replace the Washington Bridge is now at $400 million, while the estimated price for rebuilding the Frances Scott Key Bridge; it is between 1.7 and 1.9 billion dollars. Connecticut will pay about 20 million dollars to replace the bridge lost in a fiery collision on the freeway.
In addition to these accidents, ARBTA estimated at his report for 2023 on the state of the nation's bridges that more than $319 billion would be needed to make needed repairs to other structures across the country. They further reported that states have committed $3.2 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding for these repairs.
“We're like a generation that inherited our grandparents' mansion and refused to do the maintenance,” Flynn said. “People drive up thinking it's a nice house, but the roof leaks and the electricity and plumbing don't work. For nearly four decades, we've basically approached maintaining the infrastructure as it was on life support, rather than making the kinds of investments needed to keep it running and adapt to the demands we're increasingly putting on it.”
According to Alexander, the country needs a resilient transportation system that can not only absorb disruptions, such as shutdowns, and quickly recover to its original operating state, but also be able to withstand future problems. But he said much of the country's infrastructure is built for efficiency, which means it can be more prone to collapse due to a lack of alternative routes should an access point fail.
“We have to bounce forward, and that means building a transportation infrastructure system that's not only good now, but something that can withstand climate impacts over the long term,” Alexander said. “It's building a transportation infrastructure system that provides equitable access, an infrastructure system that addresses the issues that we had even before a disruption.”
But what does a resilient transport system look like?
First, Alexander said it is vital to avoid construction so that there is only one way to access certain areas. A small island in Texas recently fell victim in it when a barge hit the bridge connecting it to the mainland. Likewise, part of the reason for the devastation when wildfires hit California and Hawaii is because there was only one way in and out of the affected areas.
Bridges can serve as a similar choke point.
“When a bridge collapses or collapses, it immediately disrupts the transportation network around it,” Alexander said. “It can disrupt daily commutes. It can disrupt freight movements and therefore business supply chains and even emergency responses.”
One way to address this is to diversify the modes of transportation available not only to people, but also to companies that transport goods, Alexander said. It's often the trucks carrying cargo that cause traffic when a mode of transportation goes out, so creating alternate routes can avoid future disasters.
Alexander said adding alternative transportation routes that don't require driving can also help our overall infrastructure, as well as local jurisdictions working together to respond to emergencies.
“A lot of times, it's how well they work together if something happens, and that alone can be the difference,” Alexander said. “Investing in alternative modes of transport and making sure we have sufficient planning to be able to plan ahead and adapt.”
But the bigger solution is investing in current infrastructure and approaching those investments with a proactive mindset. That hasn't happened at multiple levels of government, Alexander said. Many governments have avoided spending money on maintenance without understanding the long-term costs involved. This is getting to them now.
“A lot of times people don't realize that doing nothing is not free,” Alexander said. “It is also a policy choice. Sometimes we think that if you do nothing, you don't spend money, which in the short term may be correct. But if you don't do anything, if you don't keep what you have, a lot of times it means you know you're going to end up spending a lot more.”
Bridges should also be built so they don't have a single point of failure, Flynn added. While the scenario in Baltimore was an accident, Flynn said it was the result of the bridge being built with a single point of failure. After a similar accident in Tampa Bay in 1980, this bridge was rebuilt with protective barriers around it.
“It was disappointing to me that (after Tampa) we didn't look around and see what other bridges are just as critical that have the same point of failure,” Flynn said. “We've looked at it very much through the lens of the risks (the treatment). …We must invest in preservation and protection.”
