CORROSION RESOURCES FOR HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has rated almost 200,000 bridges, or one of every three bridges in the U.S., as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Furthermore, more than one-fourth of all bridges are over 50 years old, the average design-life of a bridge.

U.S. Annual Cost of Corrosion to the Nation’s Infrastructure

Read about the Bridge Life Extension Act (HR 1682)

Read about the Corrosion Prevention Act

There are 583,000 bridges in the United States (1998). Of this total, 200,000 bridges are steel, 235,000 are conventional reinforced concrete, 108,000 bridges are constructed using prestressed concrete, and the balance is made using other materials of construction. Approximately 30 percent of the bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The annual direct cost of corrosion for highway bridges is estimated to be $8.3 billion.