The National Transportation Safety Board determined in February that maintenance and oversight failures were behind a 2022 bridge collapse in Pittsburgh that injured 10 people.
Despite multiple maintenance and repair recommendations, a critical plate was allowed to corrode and fracture over time, leading to the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsing on the morning of January 28 and falling about 100 feet into Frick Park.
Fortunately, no one was killed in that collapse. But bridge failures can lead to incredibly high death tolls, as in 1967, when 1,460 feet of the Silver Bridge spanning between Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio, fell into the Ohio River and 46 people died.
Additionally, poor or failing bridges can lack important traffic safety features, making them dangerous to motorists even if they do not collapse.
So to better understand the condition of bridges across the United States, the Orange County car accident attorneys at Bridgford, Gleason & Artinian Law analyzed records of more than 600,000 bridges throughout the country for years 2023 and 2025, in order to determine which states have the most bridges that are in need of repair or replacement and how the numbers have changed within the last 3 years — as graded by engineers and inspectors.
KEY FINDINGS
- In 2025, 6.6% of bridges nationwide were rated in poor condition compared to 10.8% in 2023.
- Nineteen states have less than 5% of their bridges in poor condition, compared to just four states in 2023.
- Iowa ranks last in the nation for bridges in poor condition, both by number and rate, however, their rate of poor bridges has improved from 21.2% in 2023 to 18.6% in 2025.
- Maine and Wyoming were the only states to have an increase in number of poorly rated bridges.
Impact of The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
One of the main drivers for improvement nearly across the board was the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in 2021. This established the Bridge Formula Program which provides $27.5 billion “to replace, rehabilitate, preserve, protect, and construct highway bridges” from 2022 through 2026.
The bill allocates 75% of the funds toward replacing all bridges classified in poor condition with each state guaranteed to receive a minimum of $45 million.
Top 10 States With The Most Improvement From 2023 to 2025
These states had the largest reduction in % of poor rated bridges:
- South Carolina: Improved by 21.5 percentage points (from 27.9% to 6.3%)
- Kansas: Improved by 14.7 percentage points (from 20.0% to 5.2%)
- Hawaii: Improved by 13.5 percentage points (from 19.2% to 5.7%)
- Oregon: Improved by 13.0 percentage points (from 18.1% to 5.1%)
- Nebraska: Improved by 12.3 percentage points (from 19.8% to 7.5%)
- North Dakota: Improved by 9.4 percentage points (from 20.4% to 11.1%)
- Arkansas: Improved by 9.2 percentage points (from 14.6% to 5.4%)
- Missouri: Improved by 7.4 percentage points (from 16.2% to 8.8%)
- Vermont: Improved by 7.3 percentage points (from 11.3% to 4.0%)
- Utah: Improved by 7.2 percentage points (from 10.7% to 3.5%)
Bottom 10 States With The Least Improvement From 2023 to 2025
These states had the smallest change or increase in % of poor rated bridges:
- Maine: Worsened by 1.4 percentage points (from 14.0% to 15.4%)
- Wyoming: Worsened by 0.4 percentage points (from 6.8% to 7.1%)
- Illinois: Improved by only 0.1 percentage points (from 9.7% to 9.5%)
- Texas: Improved by 0.7 percentage points (from 1.9% to 1.2%)
- Michigan: Improved by 0.8 percentage points (from 11.7% to 11.0%)
- Minnesota: Improved by 0.8 percentage points (from 5.3% to 4.5%)
- Connecticut: Improved by 0.8 percentage points (from 5.6% to 4.8%)
- Arizona: Improved by 0.9 percentage points (from 2.0% to 1.1%)
- Delaware: Improved by 0.9 percentage points (from 2.1% to 1.1%)
- New York: Improved by 0.9 percentage points (from 10.8% to 9.9%)
Which state has the worst bridges in the country?
Below, we ranked the states by the highest percentage of all bridges that are in poor structural condition in 2025.
51. NEVADA
Total bridges: 2,123
Bridges in poor condition: 22 (1.0%)
Closed bridges: 2 (0.09%)
50. ARIZONA
Total bridges: 8,587
Bridges in poor condition: 95 (1.1%)
Closed bridges: 8 (0.09%)
49. DELAWARE
Total bridges: 874
Bridges in poor condition: 10 (1.1%)
Closed bridges: 2 (0.23%)
48. TEXAS
Total bridges: 56,951
Bridges in poor condition: 680 (1.2%)
Closed bridges: 92 (0.16%)
47. GEORGIA
Total bridges: 15,090
Bridges in poor condition: 263 (1.7%)
Closed bridges: 59 (0.39%)
46. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Total bridges: 261
Bridges in poor condition: 5 (1.9%)
Closed bridges: 0 (0.00%)
45. FLORIDA
Total bridges: 13,070
Bridges in poor condition: 360 (2.8%)
Closed bridges: 37 (0.28%)
44. ALABAMA
Total bridges: 16,181
Bridges in poor condition: 545 (3.4%)
Closed bridges: 190 (1.17%)
43. VIRGINIA
Total bridges: 14,143
Bridges in poor condition: 485 (3.4%)
Closed bridges: 50 (0.35%)
42. UTAH
Total bridges: 3,144
Bridges in poor condition: 109 (3.5%)
Closed bridges: 7 (0.22%)
41. VERMONT
Total bridges: 2,866
Bridges in poor condition: 114 (4.0%)
Closed bridges: 24 (0.84%)
40. NEW MEXICO
Total bridges: 4,033
Bridges in poor condition: 172 (4.3%)
Closed bridges: 12 (0.30%)
39. TENNESSEE
Total bridges: 20,374
Bridges in poor condition: 887 (4.4%)
Closed bridges: 70 (0.34%)
38. MARYLAND
Total bridges: 5,500
Bridges in poor condition: 240 (4.4%)
Closed bridges: 25 (0.45%)
37. MINNESOTA
Total bridges: 13,551
Bridges in poor condition: 609 (4.5%)
Closed bridges: 50 (0.37%)
36. COLORADO
Total bridges: 8,990
Bridges in poor condition: 417 (4.6%)
Closed bridges: 15 (0.17%)
35. OHIO
Total bridges: 26,713
Bridges in poor condition: 1,266 (4.7%)
Closed bridges: 112 (0.42%)
34. CONNECTICUT
Total bridges: 4,363
Bridges in poor condition: 209 (4.8%)
Closed bridges: 17 (0.39%)
33. CALIFORNIA
Total bridges: 25,975
Bridges in poor condition: 1,284 (4.9%)
Closed bridges: 91 (0.35%)
32. OREGON
Total bridges: 8,329
Bridges in poor condition: 422 (5.1%)
Closed bridges: 26 (0.31%)
31. KANSAS
Total bridges: 24,891
Bridges in poor condition: 1,301 (5.2%)
Closed bridges: 11 (0.04%)
30. INDIANA
Total bridges: 19,542
Bridges in poor condition: 1,043 (5.3%)
Closed bridges: 117 (0.60%)
29. ARKANSAS
Total bridges: 12,978
Bridges in poor condition: 695 (5.4%)
Closed bridges: 31 (0.24%)
28. IDAHO
Total bridges: 4,646
Bridges in poor condition: 250 (5.4%)
Closed bridges: 14 (0.30%)
27. WASHINGTON
Total bridges: 8,520
Bridges in poor condition: 473 (5.6%)
Closed bridges: 19 (0.22%)
26. HAWAII
Total bridges: 1,180
Bridges in poor condition: 67 (5.7%)
Closed bridges: 5 (0.42%)
25. NEW JERSEY
Total bridges: 6,825
Bridges in poor condition: 392 (5.7%)
Closed bridges: 21 (0.31%)
24. MISSISSIPPI
Total bridges: 16,711
Bridges in poor condition: 967 (5.8%)
Closed bridges: 203 (1.21%)
23. SOUTH CAROLINA
Total bridges: 9,504
Bridges in poor condition: 602 (6.3%)
Closed bridges: 122 (1.28%)
22. WISCONSIN
Total bridges: 14,498
Bridges in poor condition: 976 (6.7%)
Closed bridges: 32 (0.22%)
21. WYOMING
Total bridges: 3,138
Bridges in poor condition: 224 (7.1%)
Closed bridges: 10 (0.32%)
20. NORTH CAROLINA
Total bridges: 19,343
Bridges in poor condition: 1,382 (7.1%)
Closed bridges: 143 (0.74%)
19. MONTANA
Total bridges: 5,235
Bridges in poor condition: 388 (7.4%)
Closed bridges: 31 (0.59%)
18. KENTUCKY
Total bridges: 14,590
Bridges in poor condition: 1,088 (7.5%)
Closed bridges: 65 (0.45%)
17. ALASKA
Total bridges: 1,660
Bridges in poor condition: 124 (7.5%)
Closed bridges: 31 (1.87%)
16. NEBRASKA
Total bridges: 15,412
Bridges in poor condition: 1,155 (7.5%)
Closed bridges: 169 (1.10%)
15. OKLAHOMA
Total bridges: 22,926
Bridges in poor condition: 1,719 (7.5%)
Closed bridges: 131 (0.57%)
14. NEW HAMPSHIRE
Total bridges: 2,549
Bridges in poor condition: 192 (7.5%)
Closed bridges: 15 (0.59%)
13. MISSOURI
Total bridges: 24,647
Bridges in poor condition: 2,163 (8.8%)
Closed bridges: 211 (0.86%)
12. MASSACHUSETTS
Total bridges: 5,311
Bridges in poor condition: 501 (9.4%)
Closed bridges: 44 (0.83%)
11. ILLINOIS
Total bridges: 26,927
Bridges in poor condition: 2,563 (9.5%)
Closed bridges: 109 (0.40%)
10. NEW YORK
Total bridges: 17,666
Bridges in poor condition: 1,741 (9.9%)
Closed bridges: 98 (0.55%)
9. MICHIGAN
Total bridges: 11,397
Bridges in poor condition: 1,250 (11.0%)
Closed bridges: 80 (0.70%)
8. NORTH DAKOTA
Total bridges: 4,250
Bridges in poor condition: 470 (11.1%)
Closed bridges: 110 (2.59%)
7. LOUISIANA
Total bridges: 12,684
Bridges in poor condition: 1,423 (11.2%)
Closed bridges: 101 (0.80%)
6. PENNSYLVANIA
Total bridges: 23,314
Bridges in poor condition: 2,813 (12.1%)
Closed bridges: 293 (1.26%)
5. RHODE ISLAND
Total bridges: 787
Bridges in poor condition: 110 (14.0%)
Closed bridges: 7 (0.89%)
4. MAINE
Total bridges: 2,542
Bridges in poor condition: 392 (15.4%)
Closed bridges: 22 (0.87%)
3. SOUTH DAKOTA
Total bridges: 5,883
Bridges in poor condition: 945 (16.1%)
Closed bridges: 77 (1.31%)
2. WEST VIRGINIA
Total bridges: 7,345
Bridges in poor condition: 1,307 (17.8%)
Closed bridges: 19 (0.26%)
1. IOWA
Total bridges: 23,716
Bridges in poor condition: 4,423 (18.6%)
Closed bridges: 330 (1.39%)
Below, we ranked the states by the highest percentage of all bridges that are in poor structural condition in 2023.
51. Texas
Total bridges: 56,313
Bridges in poor condition: 1,087 (1.9%)
Closed bridges: 79 (0.14%)
50. Arizona
Total bridges: 8,544
Bridges in poor condition: 169 (2.0%)
Closed bridges: 1 (0.01%)
49. Delaware
Total bridges: 874
Bridges in poor condition: 18 (2.1%)
Closed bridges: 0 (0.00%)
48. Nevada
Total bridges: 2,090
Bridges in poor condition: 85 (4.1%)
Closed bridges: 1 (0.05%)
47. Minnesota
Total bridges: 13,502
Bridges in poor condition: 714 (5.3%)
Closed bridges: 33 (0.24%)
46. Washington D.C.
Total bridges: 252
Bridges in poor condition: 14 (5.6%)
Closed bridges: 0 (0.00%)
45. Connecticut
Total bridges: 4,362
Bridges in poor condition: 245 (5.6%)
Closed bridges: 8 (0.18%)
44. Maryland
Total bridges: 5,473
Bridges in poor condition: 312 (5.7%)
Closed bridges: 10 (0.18%)
43. Florida
Total bridges: 12,881
Bridges in poor condition: 753 (5.8%)
Closed bridges: 17 (0.13%)
42. New Mexico
Total bridges: 4,037
Bridges in poor condition: 242 (6.0%)
Closed bridges: 13 (0.32%)
41. Virginia
Total bridges: 14,068
Bridges in poor condition: 858 (6.1%)
Closed bridges: 27 (0.19%)
40. Ohio
Total bridges: 26,960
Bridges in poor condition: 1,741 (6.5%)
Closed bridges: 7 (0.03%)
39. Wyoming
Total bridges: 3,131
Bridges in poor condition: 212 (6.8%)
Closed bridges: 3 (0.10%)
38. Tennessee
Total bridges: 20,373
Bridges in poor condition: 1,385 (6.8%)
Closed bridges: 52 (0.26%)
37. Indiana
Total bridges: 19,381
Bridges in poor condition: 1,457 (7.5%)
Closed bridges: 60 (0.31%)
36. Colorado
Total bridges: 8,954
Bridges in poor condition: 712 (8.0%)
Closed bridges: 1 (0.01%)
35. Wisconsin
Total bridges: 14,412
Bridges in poor condition: 1,153 (8.0%)
Closed bridges: 19 (0.13%)
34. New Jersey
Total bridges: 6,820
Bridges in poor condition: 560 (8.2%)
Closed bridges: 14 (0.21%)
33. Alabama
Total bridges: 16,176
Bridges in poor condition: 1,364 (8.4%)
Closed bridges: 200 (1.24%)
32. Georgia
Total bridges: 15,058
Bridges in poor condition: 1,281 (8.5%)
Closed bridges: 43 (0.29%)
31. Alaska
Total bridges: 1,675
Bridges in poor condition: 154 (9.2%)
Closed bridges: 12 (0.72%)
30. California
Total bridges: 25,818
Bridges in poor condition: 2,390 (9.3%)
Closed bridges: 33 (0.13%)
29. Illinois
Total bridges: 26,873
Bridges in poor condition: 2,596 (9.7%)
Closed bridges: 85 (0.32%)
28. North Carolina
Total bridges: 18,817
Bridges in poor condition: 1,822 (9.7%)
Closed bridges: 40 (0.21%)
27. Idaho
Total bridges: 4,588
Bridges in poor condition: 453 (9.9%)
Closed bridges: 2 (0.04%)
26. Kentucky
Total bridges: 14,493
Bridges in poor condition: 1,453 (10.0%)
Closed bridges: 60 (0.41%)
25. Massachusetts
Total bridges: 5,281
Bridges in poor condition: 549 (10.4%)
Closed bridges: 16 (0.30%)
24. Utah
Total bridges: 3,109
Bridges in poor condition: 332 (10.7%)
Closed bridges: 1 (0.03%)
23. New York
Total bridges: 17,573
Bridges in poor condition: 1,898 (10.8%)
Closed bridges: 80 (0.46%)
22. Vermont
Total bridges: 2,856
Bridges in poor condition: 322 (11.3%)
Closed bridges: 13 (0.46%)
21. New Hampshire
Total bridges: 2,537
Bridges in poor condition: 287 (11.3%)
Closed bridges: 13 (0.51%)
20. Mississippi
Total bridges: 17,573
Bridges in poor condition: 1,897 (11.3%)
Closed bridges: 246 (1.47%)
19. Michigan
Total bridges: 11,341
Bridges in poor condition: 1,331 (11.7%)
Closed bridges: 53 (0.47%)
18. Washington
Total bridges: 8,421
Bridges in poor condition: 1,022 (12.1%)
Closed bridges: 6 (0.07%)
17. Montana
Total bridges: 5,218
Bridges in poor condition: 636 (12.2%)
Closed bridges: 11 (0.21%)
16. Oklahoma
Total bridges: 22,87
Bridges in poor condition: 2,805 (12.3%)
Closed bridges: 141 (0.62%)
15. Maine
Total bridges: 2,521
Bridges in poor condition: 353 (14.0%)
Closed bridges: 5 (0.20%)
14. Pennsylvania
Total bridges: 23,257
Bridges in poor condition: 3,269 (14.1%)
Closed bridges: 183 (0.79%)
13. Arkansas
Total bridges: 12,962
Bridges in poor condition: 1,893 (14.6%)
Closed bridges: 28 (0.22%)
12. Missouri
Total bridges: 24,617
Bridges in poor condition: 3,988 (16.2%)
Closed bridges: 196 (0.80%)
11. Louisiana
Total bridges: 12,717
Bridges in poor condition: 2,145 (16.9%)
Closed bridges: 139 (1.09%)
10. Oregon
Total bridges: 8,292
Bridges in poor condition: 1,499 (18.1%)
Closed bridges: 6 (0.07%)
9. Rhode Island
Total bridges: 782
Bridges in poor condition: 146 (18.7%)
Closed bridges: 5 (0.64%)
8. West Virginia
Total bridges: 7,323
Bridges in poor condition: 1,386 (18.9%)
Closed bridges: 19 (0.26%)
7. South Dakota
Total bridges: 5,889
Bridges in poor condition: 1,116 (19.8%)
Closed bridges: 63 (1.07%)
6. Hawaii
Total bridges: 1,190
Bridges in poor condition: 228 (19.2%)
Closed bridges: 3 (0.25%)
5. Nebraska
Total bridges: 15,348
Bridges in poor condition: 3,038 (19.8%)
Closed bridges: 179 (1.17%)
4. Kansas
Total bridges: 24,907
Bridges in poor condition: 4,975 (20.0%)
Closed bridges: 1 (0.004%)
3. North Dakota
Total bridges: 4,280
Bridges in poor condition: 875 (20.4%)
Closed bridges: 70 (1.64%)
2. Iowa
Total bridges: 23,720
Bridges in poor condition: 5,039 (21.2%)
Closed bridges: 375 (1.58%)
1. South Carolina
Total bridges: 9,481
Bridges in poor condition: 2,642 (27.9%)
Closed bridges: 58 (0.61%)
Data source and methodology
Data for this analysis comes from the 2023 and 2025 National Bridge Inventory, an annual survey conducted by the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Bridges and Structures.
We downloaded data on nearly 620,000 bridges in the United States and determined the percentage of bridges in each state that were deemed to be in poor structural condition (including those that have been closed for rehabilitation or replacement).
Each open bridge is rated on a scale from 2-9, with 9 as the best possible rating, while closed bridges receive a 0. A bridge is classified as being in poor condition if it receives a rating of 4 (“meets minimum tolerable limits to be left in place as is”) or below.