House Clears Bridge Inspection And Reconstruction Funding Bill
The House July 24 approved legislation providing an additional $1 billion to help repair and replace deteriorating bridges across the U.S. by a vote of 365-55. The bill also significantly toughens bridge inspection requirements.
Congress already appropriated $1 billion for bridges in 2008. The bill’s chief sponsor, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.), says he introduced the National Highway Bridge Reconstruction and Inspection Act last summer in response to the attention brought to the nation’s ailing bridges in wake of the I-35W collapse in Minnesota. The Dept. of Transportation says more than one in four bridges in the United States are structural deficient or functionally obsolete and that more than $65 billion could be invested immediately to replace or otherwise address existing bridge deficiencies.