Feds Lack Tools to Track Bridge Spending In States

Twenty-five percent of the nation’s 603,000 bridges are structurally deficient in some way, but the federal government lacks the analytic and procedural tools to determine what impact federal bridge money would have in addressing the problem, a Government Accountability Office report said.

The report was delivered June 21 to the House Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

The number of bridges in need of repair, which is what a deficient rating means, will increase as bridges age, the report said.

However, it is difficult to evaluate how well federal money has been spent so far by the states on bridge repair and how much money will be needed to meet future needs, the report said.

The federal bridge program, the report said, does not track federal versus state spending on bridges and does not impose performance standards on the states.