匹兹堡拥有的桥梁比世界上任何其他城市都要多，但是“桥梁”现在的桥梁越来越少。
匹兹堡的蕨类空心桥的崩溃使该国的衰老桥基础设施成为焦点再次。根据new report, released Monday, 36% of the country’s bridges need to be repaired or replaced entirely. Pennsylvania has the second-highest number of bridges rated in poor condition. The now-collapsed, 50-year-old bridge, which left 10 people injured, has been on the list since 2012.
在一次具有讽刺意味的事件中，这座桥仅在拜登总统计划访问之前几小时就宣传他的1万亿美元基础设施法案，该法案于2021年11月通过。该国，其中16亿美元将用于宾夕法尼亚州。目前尚不清楚哪些桥梁将在这些资金的接收端，但是根据报告，修复在美国需要维修的每座桥梁需要接近2600亿美元。
报告中列出的许多桥梁需要维护多年。该报告的首席经济学家兼报告作者艾莉森·布莱克（Alison Black）说：“被归类为'状况不佳'的桥梁中约有90％在结构上是不足的。”
与2020年相比，全国有1,400多个桥梁已经修复并脱颖而出，同时增加了十几个，其中包括弗吉尼亚州北安普敦市13号公路的切萨皮克湾桥梁。美国60/62桥上连接伊利诺伊州和密苏里州的密西西比河；以及在加利福尼亚州反驳哥斯达黎加的I-680上的多个高速公路桥梁。报告说，该报告说，修复所有桥梁将需要大约30年的时间，但是新的联邦投资可以帮助您。在接下来的五年中，美国运输部和联邦公路管理局将分发270亿美元在所有50个州中。加利福尼亚州以42亿美元的价格排名第一；纽约有19亿美元，宾夕法尼亚州有16亿美元（随后是伊利诺伊州，马萨诸塞州，新泽西州和路易斯安那州）。
There are two other pots of money that states can tap into to fix their bridges. The infrastructure bill also authorized125亿美元通过桥梁投资计划获得竞争性赠款。布莱克说：“这强调了将一些专门用于桥梁的资金的重要性。”（这是一个自由裁量计划，因此DOT将决定在哪里分配资金。）
On top of that, states can choose to use some money from the Federal Highway Program toward bridge repairs. Historically, most federal money has gone toward the national highway system and major interstates. “The idea is that you want that federal money targeted towards roads that are important to the national economy,” says Black. But in this case, Black says the government is giving states some flexibility so they can use some of that money to fix local bridges. The Federal Highway Program has gone up from $46.4 billion last year to $57.5 billion in 2022. “It’s one of the biggest increases we’ve ever seen,” says Black.
各州如何支付基础设施基金取决于每个州的运输部。在宾夕法尼亚州3,300 bridgesare rated in poor condition, out of about 25,400 total bridges across the state. Judging from PennDOT’s计划作品的日志对于桥梁和道路，目前正在进行大约十二个桥梁维修和更换。（在接下来的四年中，该管道中还有十几个，在接下来的12年中大约有50个。）
The good news is, the number of bridges that need to be fixed or replaced, including those that are structurally deficient, has been dropping steadily over the past few years—just not fast enough to prevent yet another bridge from collapsing.