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Keough expresses concern over aging Idaho
bridges;
several located in Boundary County |
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February 11, 2015 |
Idaho Senator Shawn Keough has issued a press
release regarding Idaho's transportation
network, which includes, among other things,
concerns about funding to maintain the system
and in particular expresses concern about
bridges in our state.
"Over the last few weeks," said Senator Keough,
"we’ve heard even more dire warnings from
transportation officials and the Governor about
Idaho’s aging and structurally deficient
bridges."
Idaho has 4,198 state and local bridges, and
over half of those bridges will be over 50 years
old within the next 4 years. In Governor Otter's
State of the State address last month, he
mentioned that the number of Idaho bridges the
state's Department of Transportation considers
in less than "good" condition "will grow to
almost 900 bridges by 2019, even after
completing work on the 68 for which we currently
have funding.”
Senator Keough points out that "ITD has told us
that most Idaho bridges were built during the
interstate construction era of the 1950s and
‘60s and were designed to last 40-60 years
before being replaced. At current funding levels
bridges will have to last 120 years."
According to the recent January 2015 report from
the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council,
Boundary County appears to have 19 bridges that
are age 50 years or more, eight of which are
located on U.S. Highway 95, Boundary County's
major transportation route.
U.S. Highway 2's 464 foot high Moyie River
Bridge, constructed in 1964 according to the
sign at the Bridge viewpoint, turned 50 years
old last year, though in the report it is listed
in the age 40-49 category.
Several other Boundary County bridges are in the
age 40-49 category.
The report on the state's bridges, with maps
that include bridges and their ages in each
Idaho county, along with information on
condition of state and local roads can be found
on the internet at:
http://lhtac.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/local_road_bridge_inventory_2014_v4d.pdf
"Although none of us really care for paying more
taxes," said Senator Keough, "the fiscally
conservative thing to do is to take care of this
problem now before it gets more expensive as we
delay this decision. Like a roof that has just
sprung a leak, we must fix it now rather than
wait till the entire roof needs replacing."
She added that we can expect to see several
different legislative bills involving funding
for transportation systems in Idaho coming up
over the next few weeks. |
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