Bridge Management for New York City

There are 280,898 state and interstate and 309,142 local bridges in the United States. 25% of the former and 36% of the latter, or 31% of the total 590,040, are considered substandard. In recognition of this state of the national infrastructure, Congress passed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) in 1991. As a result, bridge management became a mandated, or at least recommended, part of the activities of all state departments of transportation. Although the technical and analytical aspects of bridge management have advance, major problems exist. To illustrate the current status of the issues on the level of practical application, the 847 bridges managed by the DOT of the City of New York are examined.