Today's moment of dread and disconcertion comes courtesy of a group called Transportation for America, which informs us that 17 percent of the bridges in Missouri are "structurally deficient," including many in Kansas City. The red ones on the map above are the offending bridges. The group says a deficient bridge is one "requiring significant maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement." You can play around with this
interactive map showing information about each bridge and see how many times you drive over a battered bridged. I do it twice a day!
The numbers sound a little scary. Of Missouri's 23,945 bridges, 4,071 are deficient, and an average of almost 6 million cars travel on deficient bridges each day. Nationwide, Transportation for America reports, 11.5 percent of bridges are deficient. A particularly bad patch in Kansas City is along Interstate 70, just south of Truman Road, where four bridges built in 1958 are all deficient.
Kansas' bridges are in much better shape, with only 2,815 of the state's 25,320 bridges in disrepair.
H/T KSHB.
