Central MA’s Structurally Deficient Bridges

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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Kate Nagle, GoLocalWorcester News Contributor

The safety of Massachusetts’s bridges has come into question. GoLocalWorcester's ongoing evaluation of the safety of the bridges across the Commonwealth is expanded in today's report that focuses on the 38 towns with deficient bridges in Central Massachusetts.

The issues relating to a crumbling infrastructure is not limited to Massachusetts, but today's report GoLocalWorcester looks at 75 deficient bridges in Central Massachusetts.

As GoLocalWorcester reported The country's infrastructure is woefully in need of repair and reinvestment, earning an overall grade of D+ on the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and New England is no exception.

In order to maintain and upgrade systems in the Bay State over the next 20 years, $6.8 billion will be required for drinking water and $8 billion will be needed for wastewater.

The Commonwealth is home to 341 high hazard dams and 493 structurally deficient bridges.

In terms of roadways, 42 percent of the state's roads are poor or mediocre quality, costing motorists $313 per year.

MassDOT spokesman, Michael Verseckes outlined to GoLocal the challenges facing the Commonwealth, “There are 3 categories of bridges...railroad , DOT and, Municipal bridges. The DOT is responsible for the inspection of all of the bridges. Bridges deteriorate on a daily basis, because of use, weather, wear and tear."

According to MassDOT, the scoring of the bridges as outlined in the slideshow are on a scale of 1 to 10. One being the lowest score and any score below a 4 is considered "poor."

9 is excellent

4 is poor

1 is imminent failure