In Western New York, the Federal Highway Administration has classified 195 bridges as structurally deficient. In the Rochester-Finger Lakes Region, 214 bridges as structurally deficient. In the Southern Tier, 354 bridges classified as structurally deficient by the FHA.
In the Buffalo area alone, 99 bridges are deemed deficient. These include 8 bridges along I – 190, bridges over Sheridan drive, the Kensington Expressway, Route 400, Route 62 bridges over Cazenovia Creek and the Buffalo River, overpasses near the Young men Highway interchange and Peace Bridge. In fact, across New York State there are more than 2000 bridges with structural problems.
Ask any trucker, structural and mechanical problems that can occur in big rigs don’t get better over time, they only get worse. It’s the same thing for bridges, overpasses and structures we take for granted while driving. Defects, such as low shoulders and many others do cause crashes. Often they are single vehicle crashes and the causes go undetected.
We have plenty of work to be done, and plenty of people to work. Let’s fix our bridges now. It will be cheaper to fix them now than wait until they deteriorate further, and we may see some lives and needless injuries.
