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ImageWASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Michael A. Arcuri (D-Utica) led legislation through the House of Representatives this week to significantly improve the safety of our nation’s highway bridges by strengthening bridge inspection requirements and standards and prioritizing the reconstruction of structurally deficient bridges.

“Local communities need the resources to ensure that our families and friends don’t have to worry about their safety during their morning commute to work, quick trip to the grocery store, or the drive to drop their children off at school,” said Arcuri, a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “We owe it to the American public to do everything possible to ensure the safety of our bridges and highways. This legislation will make the bridges on our national highway system safer.”

Arcuri, a member of the House Committee on Rules, sponsored and introduced the Rule allowing the House to consider The National Highway Bridge Reconstruction and Inspection Act (H.R. 3999), which would authorize an additional $1 billion for the reconstruction of structurally deficient bridges on the National Highway System and strengthen bridge inspection requirements and standards. If fully funded, this bill would create nearly 35,000 new jobs. H.R. 3999 passed the House of Representatives today by a bipartisan majority.

According to the Transportation Department, of the 599,731 bridges in the National Bridge inventory, 71,604 are structurally deficient and 80,793 are functionally obsolete.   On August 1, 2007, the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people

The bill requires the Department of Transportation to develop a system to assign a risk-based priority to repair, rehabilitate, or replace each structurally deficient or functionally obsolete Federal-aid highway bridge. By creating a risk-based priority ranking, this bill establishes a new level of accountability in bridge repair and replacement by ensuring that states are investing in upgrading those bridges that are most critical to safety.

The National Highway Bridge Reconstruction and Inspection Act also:

  • Requires the National Academy of Sciences to conduct an independent review of the Department of Transportation’s process for assigning risk-based priorities.

  • Requires the Federal Highway Administration to immediately update the National Bridge Inspection Standards, as well as ensure uniformity among states in conducting inspections and evaluations.

  • Strengthens training and certification requirements for bridge inspectors. Currently, there is no Federal standard or training requirement for front-line bridge inspectors.

H.R. 3999 prohibits any congressional or Administration earmarks to be provided under this program.

Arcuri also joined with Representatives Michael Conaway (R-TX) and Betty Sutton (D-OH) to successfully offer a bipartisan amendment to address rust and corrosion damage to bridges. The amendment expresses the sense of Congress that states should prepare corrosion mitigation and prevention plans when planning the construction of new bridges or the rehabilitation of existing bridges.

The amendment calls attention to the serious problem of bridge corrosion. Especially in the Northeast, weather and salt can cause steel beams to rust and undermine the integrity of an entire structure.  Additionally, when water is able to penetrate a concrete bridge deck, it can corrode the steel rebar reinforcing the concrete, causing it to swell and fracture from the inside out.

“It is much easier and more cost effective to prevent or limit corrosion and rust at the beginning of a project,” Arcuri said. “Corrosion prevention and mitigation plans can cost as little as a few thousand dollars to prepare during the design phase of a bridge project, but they can save municipalities hundreds of millions of dollars down the road. Having these plans up front can extend the life of the bridge, thereby saving both lives and millions of dollars in unnecessary repairs.”

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