ne in seven bridges in Massachusetts is structurally deficient and in need of overhaul, according to a Globe analysis of recently compiled inspection data for every bridge in the state.
After a year of high-profile bridge failures, including the collapse of a turn-of-the century arch bridge in Lincoln last October, the latest inspection reports indicate the number of deteriorating bridges is increasing.
The rate of problem bridges - with structural defects or with design flaws that make them too narrow, poorly aligned with roadways or unable to carry larger vehicles - is the third worst in the country, according to Federal Highway Administration data.
In every region of Massachusetts, local highway officials say they are using a patchwork of quick-fix repairs to hold together bridges in need of replacement. Nearly 40 percent of the 4,995 bridges in Massachusetts rate low enough to qualify for federal repair funds - a situation that several officials say poses a threat to public safety and the economy.
''We need to be vigilant about insuring that the bridges allow for safe travel in the Commonwealth and that there is a comfort to motorists who know that these bridges are safe,'' said Representative Joseph C. Sullivan, a Braintree Democrat and House chairman of the Legislature's Transportation Committee.
As the need for bridge repair has grown, local officials say funding has been harder to come by, especially as the state struggles to pay for the massive $13.6 billion Central Artery project in Boston. Last month the Legislature did approve an extra $75 million for bridge work as part of the first installment of a five-year, $500 million increase in bridge and road repair funds.
Still, overhauling every bridge in need of urgent repair would cost at least $1.7 billion, state officials say. Annual spending on bridge repair in the past five years, meanwhile, has averaged just $83 million.
Decrepit, failing bridges are affecting every type of city and town. Among those with the highest percentage of bad bridges are wealthy communities such as Dover and Hingham; congested urban areas like Somerville and Cambridge; and smaller, isolated towns such as Millville, near the Rhode Island border in the Blackstone Valley.
Millvile's highway supervisor, John Dean, holding rusted chunks from the main girder of the bridge connecting the town. (Globe Staff Photo / Wendy Maeda)
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In Millville, John Dean treks every day to the old grate bridge that connects the tiny community, and disappears below the road to perform the most important job in town.
Dean, Millville's highway surveyor, ducks as chunks of rust the size of Frisbees fall from the trembling main girder. He examines three pieces of timber added a few years back to hold the span together.
Above, motorists breeze by unaware that their iron lifeline is crumbling beneath them. A state inspector's report warns that the north end of the bridge held up by the timber may collapse.
Restrictions on the fragile bridge already affect the way the town goes about its daily routine.
Schoolchildren must allow an extra half hour to catch buses that are detoured through neighboring Rhode Island because the bridge is too weak to support vehicles weighing more than five tons. Fire trucks responding to a call for help are allowed to use the bridge, but must slow to 5 miles per hour when crossing.
''If this bridge collapses, then the whole town would be divided in half,'' said Dean, 67. ''The bridge is our only way over the river, but we can't pay for it ourselves. It would put this town in bankruptcy.''
The struggle to find enough money to fix bridges is not limited to small towns.
Even Boston, which critics say unfairly benefits from the huge amount of spending on the Big Dig project, is unable to fix bridges in desperate need of repair.
The busy Congress Street bridge, which connects the financial district to the waterfront area near the Children's Museum, is in dire need of a $13 million overhaul.
The city has installed concrete barriers to block school buses carrying children to the museum from parking near the bridge because the structure cannot support the weight. A hole in the bridge deck is large enough for the legs of a child to fall through.
Boston Public Works Commissioner Joseph Casazza said plans to replace the 70-year-old bridge have been completed for years, but the money to do the work is nowhere to be found.
''We need more money in the pot,'' he said. ''Boston Public Works is not getting any better treatment than any other town you want to pick. We are in the same boat as everybody else when it comes to getting dollars to build our bridges.''
Casazza said he is doing everything he can to avoid closing the Congress Street bridge, which could have a significant impact on downtown traffic. He recently approved the spending of $125,000 in emergency repair work.
Obtaining bridge repair funds is often a torturous process for municipalities, which compete with other cities and towns to win state approval of their requests.
In North Attleborough, a net spreads across four lanes of Interstate 95 to prevent debris from the Kelly Boulevard bridge from falling on cars traveling on the highway. The bridge is scheduled to be repaired this summer, but locals waited a decade before the state provided $6 million in funds, said Representative Betty Poirier, a Republican from North Attleborough.
For years, the bridge was patched on the top, but ''it's at the point now where you no longer can patch it,'' she said. ''It's sincerely a danger to the people that travel above and below the bridge. I was very concerned for the safety of the people that traveled this route every day, the children that rode on school buses. I don't want to see a disaster happen and then have us respond.''
Bridge failures in the past 18 months highlight the importance of maintaining and repairing the structures.
It was one year ago that the Central Artery was closed for 72 hours after a state trooper noticed a dip in the road on the upper deck of Interstate 93 by the Fleet Center. An inspection revealed a failed expansion joint and the resulting emergency repair work triggered a traffic fiasco during the Memorial Day weekend.
In March 1999, seven people were injured in Fall River when several large pieces of concrete fell from the Government Center overpass onto Interstate 195. Inspection and repair work forced officials to close both sides of the highway for two days.
And last October, 87-year-old Lee's Bridge in Lincoln collapsed after an oil truck passed over it. No one was hurt, but state officials immediately demolished the bridge and began inspecting similar bridges statewide.
State highway officials say the Lincoln collapse has prompted them to be more vigilant. ''If a bridge is borderline, we are now erring on the side of caution,'' said Thomas Broderick, the state's chief highway engineer.
Following the Lincoln collapse, the state increased inspections of low-scoring bridges and subjected them to more thorough tests. Training for the Commonwealth's 32 bridge inspectors was also increased.
State Highway Commissioner Matthew J. Amorello said motorists should not be concerned about traveling in Massachusetts.
''We close any bridge that is not safe,'' he said. ''There is not an if, and, or but. We won't let any risk exist for motorists.''
The state Highway Department oversees the repair of about 90 percent of the bridges in Massachusetts. The remaining bridges are maintained by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, railroads, and other government agencies.
During the early 1990s, the state chipped away at the number of structurally deficient bridges under its care - reducing the total from 828 in fiscal 1992 to 592 in fiscal 1999. The progress on bridge work was so promising that in 1996 the state Highway Department said its goal was to eliminate all deficient bridges by 2005.
Over the last four years, however, the number of bridges in need of an immediate overhaul has remained roughly the same and actually increased during the past year to 618.
And the goals of highway officials have been modified.
''It is unrealistic to ever get to zero,'' said Broderick. ''Our goal is to take what is on the list and get rid of those.''
But for every bridge fixed and taken off the list, another is added. The bridge infrastructure in Massachusetts is among the oldest in the country; a third of all the bridges were built before 1940.
Local highway officials said there will always be a long list of bridges in need of serious repair unless more money is spent. State officials, who approve all of the bridge projects, also conceded more funding is needed.
Federal and state spending on bridge repairs in Massachusetts has averaged about $130 million over the past five years.
''It's a Band-Aid approach,'' said John Pourbaix, executive director of Construction Industries of Massachusetts, an industry trade group. ''It's going to take [the state] years to work this high percentage of substandard bridges back down.''
Repairing only a few major bridges can exhaust an entire year's worth of repair money. The Brightman Bridge connecting Fall River and Somerset, for instance, is being repaired at a cost of $166 million over five years.
Officials chafe at the disproportionate drain the Big Dig has had on money available for bridge projects throughout the state.
State Auditor Joseph DeNucci in December 1997 said the massive project received half of the $304 million in federal bridge aid to Massachusetts during the prior five years. Of the 57 bridge projects underway in Massachusetts today, one-quarter are related to the Central Artery project.
Millville has pleaded with the state to approve a $3 million plan to replace the 65-year-old Central Street bridge. Last year, Dean, the town's highway surveyor, spent $36,000 patching up holes under the bridge but he says that was like throwing money down the rushing Blackstone River.
Dean blames the bridge's problems on the lack of funds the town has received ever since the Big Dig project began a decade ago. ''Everything was going along just fine until the Big Dig came along,'' Dean said. ''People ask where did your troubles all start, I say it started with the Big Dig.''
Sullivan, the Transportation Committee chairman, agrees that the Central Artery Project, as well as a 40 percent cut in federal highway aid two years ago, has taken needed funds from the state's road and bridge projects.
While it is important to complete the Big Dig, Sullivan said, the state must begin to ''step up and ensure that all roads and bridges in the Commonwealth receive appropriate attention.''
Brian McGrory
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