Like many states, Louisiana is facing a transportation-funding crisis. However, not every state has a bridge problem accelerating quite like this.
According to a recent report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG), Louisiana is one of 10 states with more structurally deficient bridges in 2014 than in the previous year. The report found 187 new bridges being added to the disabled list.
Currently Louisiana does not know what to do about a $12 billion backlog in road and bridge maintenance. The bridge issue is not going away any time soon, either. On March 24, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) Deputy Secretary Eric Kalivoda told the state’s House appropriations committee that there will be serious problems if little or nothing is done in the next decade.
“We are going to do something about it or we’re going to be closing a lot of bridges,” he said.
According to the DOTD the state has invested $1.8 billion into bridge repair since January 2008 and $7 billion in road improvements over the same time span.
“The state appears to favor building new and wider highways at the expense of repair and maintenance,” John Olivieri, the U.S. PIRG’s national campaign director for the 21st Century, said.
