Report finds 745 structurally deficient bridges in SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A new report put together by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association finds there are 745 bridges in South Carolina that are classified as structurally deficient.

The authors of the report compiled the data from the Federal Highway Administration’s 2020 Bridge Inventory. They found 7.9 percent of all the bridges in the state fall under structurally deficient. That percentage ranks South Carolina 20th in the nation for the worse bridge infrastructure, according to their analysis.

CLICK HERE to read the full report.

A structurally deficient bridge, on average, is nearly 68 years old, compared to 32 years for a bridge in good condition and 54 years for a bridge in fair condition.

Some progress appears to have been made from an earlier version of the same report that showed around 826 bridges were structurally deficient in 2016.

Definitions have changed since 2016 so it’s difficult to know exactly how much progress has been made, however the South Carolina Department of Transportation is the middle of a 10-year plan to beef up roads and bridges with around $3.2 billion dollars dedicated to infrastructure. In the plan, they expect to replace 465 of those bad bridges – so far, they’ve addressed 114.

According to ARTBA, of the top structurally deficient bridges most traveled only in the state, only three are in the Tri-County with two in Charleston County and one in Berkeley County.

The report states that at the current pace, it would take nearly 40 years to repair the current backlog of structurally deficient bridges nationwide.

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