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, Bridgford, Gleason & Artinian Law analyzed records of more than 600,000 bridges throughout the country, in order to determine which states have the most bridges that are in need of repair or replacement — as graded by engineers and inspectors.
KEY FINDINGS
- 10.8% of bridges nationwide are rated in poor condition.
- Four states have less than 5% of their bridges in poor condition, led by Texas — which has the 26th-highest number of poor-condition bridges, but more than twice as many total bridges as any other state.
- Iowa has the most bridges in poor condition, with over 5,000, but the highest rate is in South Carolina, the only state where more than 1 in 4 bridges are poorly rated.
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.
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: 22,872
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 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.