National bridge report ranks Nevada bridges best in the country
CARSON CITY, Nev. – The Nevada Department of Transportation’s dedicated bridge inspection and rehabilitation program has helped Nevada bridges to be named the nation’s best for the fourth consecutive year.
The American Road and Transportation Builders Association’s recently-released analysis of 2016 U.S. Department of Transportation bridge inventory data (www.artba.org) shows only 1.6 percent of Nevada’s approximately 2,000 public bridges being structurally deficient.
Compared to the 9.1 percent national average, it is the nation’s best ranking, and the same top ranking that Nevada also received in the past three years. The term structurally deficient bridge is used to describe bridges in need of rehabilitation or potential replacement.
Structurally deficient bridges are not necessarily unsafe or dangerous. Rather, these bridges become a priority for corrective measures, and may be posted to restrict the weight of vehicles using them.
The Nevada Department of Transportation inspects all bridges in the state of Nevada, including city and county-maintained structures, every two years. Bridges with more extensive deterioration are inspected more often.
“Keeping everyone safe and connected on Nevada’s roads is our primary focus,” NDOT Director Rudy Malfabon said. “We utilize federal and state transportation funding to make important enhancements to keep Nevada bridges the nation’s best, and, most importantly, to keep Nevada motorists safe on our bridges.”
In the past two months alone, Nevada bridges have remained structurally sound during large-scale flooding across northwestern Nevada and magnitude 5.7 earthquakes in the Hawthorne area.
The Nevada Department of Transportation dedicated approximately $17 million in fiscal years 2015 and 2016 to bridge preservation. Nearly 440 of Nevada’s state-owned bridges are more than 50 years of age, an age when rehabilitation is often necessary to keep the structure to current standards.