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10 Things: Making sense of nation’s bad bridges

By JOAN LOWYMIKE BAKER
Published September 16, 2013 11:40am ET
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10 Things: Making sense of nation’s bad bridges
The Brooklyn Bridge stretches in front of the Manhattan skyline in New York, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013. The federal government says more than 2,000 New York state bridges are structurally deficient and badly need repairs. That list includes the Brooklyn Bridge, the Tappan Zee Bridge and the Kosciuszko Bridge. | Seth Wenig

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press analyzed the federal National Bridge Inventory to focus on the thousands of bridges that have the unfortunate designation of being both “structurally deficient” and “fracture critical” — a combination of red flags that experts say indicates significant disrepair and an increased risk of collapse. Despite the ominous sounding classifications, transportation officials say such bridges are safe, and undergo rigorous inspections.

Here are 10 questions and answers regarding the status of the nation’s bridges:

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