The state Transportation Commission added $34-million in bridge projects to the five-year transportation plan Tuesday using money from the governor’s I-JOBS program. Department of Transportation spokesman, Norm McDonald, says there’s now a total of $50-million in bridge projects.
He says the 55 projects include $35-million for 27 replacement projects, and there are 28 rehabilitation projects. McDonald says $34-million worth of projects were moved up in the five year plan. The other $16-million goes to new projects. McDonald says this will help the state make progress on addressing the numerous bridges in the state that need work.
McDonald says they currently have 124 total bridge projects developed that are “structurally deficient” or “functionally obsolete.” He says they have 190 proposed bridge projects that like to work on that include 120 that are functionally obsolete, and 70 structurally deficient bridges. McDonald says the bridges that are functionally obsolete are generally not big enough to handle today’s traffic.
McDonald says the bridges are most often too narrow as they don’t have sufficient lane width, shoulder width or enough vertical clearance. McDonald says they hope to take bids on some of the projects in October. The $750-million I-JOBS program includes $250 million for transportation projects. You can see the entire five-year road plan on the D.O.T.’s website.