As the saying goes, the first step to recovery is admitting there is a problem. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Transportation has long known it has a major problem: thousands of structurally deficient bridges. In 2008, the state list of such bridges hit a peak of 6,034—the most of any state in the country.
But since then, PennDOT has taken a series of aggressive follow-up steps. It has pushed bridge repairs and replacements, removing from its list more than a third of the subpar structures. Now, the agency is in the midst of its $900-million Rapid Bridge Replacement Project, which is using non-traditional finance and delivery methods to replace 558 bridges in the state by 2017.