Long-term funding needed for Maine’s aging bridges

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AUGUSTA – Two state-funded reports and one privately financed study this year point out Maine’s need to replace its aging bridges before time runs out.

But where the money will come from to address problems cited in the studies remains to be seen.

Gov. John Baldacci on Friday called for a “timely maintenance of our roads and bridges critical to moving Maine’s economy forward to ensure the safe transportation of our people.”

“I have directed Maine’s Department of Transportation to develop a number of strategies to consider for long-term funding of our transportation infrastructure, and look forward to working with the Legislature and others to ensure resources are there to take care of these needs,” he said.

A comprehensive transportation-funding bill, LD 1790, “An Act To Secure Maine’s Transportation Future,” approved by the Legislature, is on the governor’s desk. The bill, however, lacks a way to fund bridge construction over an extended period.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, chairman of the Transportation Committee, calls his legislation a comprehensive way to fund roads, bridges, trains, airplanes and cargo boats, but says it is a “hollow bill” because it has no funding mechanism.

He said last week that he believes the Legislature will come up with a solution in January to provide the transportation money.

“It addresses all of it,” Damon said. “I refer to it as the most important transportation legislation to surface in the last 50 years.

“Now, leadership considers transportation a priority,” he said. “Legislators from both ends of the hall want to come to a solution.”

Former transportation commissioner John Melrose, who has remained involved in highway planning issues since leaving office in 2003, likes to remind people that his generation’s parents built the country’s bridge and highway system after World War II.

“We’ve been kind of riding on that investment, and that wasn’t inappropriate, because a tremendous amount of investment happened in a few decades,” he said in a recent interview.

“Our parents pedaled to the top of the hill, we coasted to the bottom of the hill, and now somebody’s got to get pedaling again,” Melrose said.

“Our bridges are the most visible manifestation of that,” he added.

A consultant with the Maine Better Transportation Association, a trade organization on transportation issues, Melrose warned about the condition of the state’s roads and bridges in his organization’s 2007 report, “Can We Coast Much Longer?”

Bridges last as long as people, and bridges that are 80 years or older will at least double in 10 years and quadruple in 30 years, the MBTA report says. At the same time, bridge replacement rates are being cut, making the scenario worse.

Melrose called Maine’s estimate of an 80-year life span of a bridge “a generous assumption,” while the Maine Turnpike Authority and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation assume an average bridge life of only 50 years.

A sixfold increase to 37 bridge replacements a year is needed just to hold the average bridge age constant, he said.

The average bridge costs $2.5 million. The cost of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge at about $100 million “could take the air out of the room” and pay for 40 bridges, based on the average, he said.

DOT Deputy Commissioner Greg Nadeau disagrees with the idea of an average figure for bridge replacement because each structure is different with its own set of problems.

Nadeau said that if his agency’s inspectors identify a problem with a bridge, and the bridge is safe, it might need to be posted with a reduced weight or speed limit to extend its life.

“If the bridge is unsafe, it’s closed,” he added.

“We used to estimate 14 replacements a year,” Nadeau said. “Now it’s up to 30 to 40 a year.

“We’ve also increased the funding from $70 million annually to between $1.6 [billion] and $1.8 billion in inflation adjusted dollars over the next 10 years,” he added.

“The hard part is in identifying resources,” he said. “We’ve got over 1,000 bridges a half-century old.”

“One school of thought is that you pay for these roads as you go,” he said. “But, there is no way we can pay for these roads from current revenues.”

Much of the state’s revenue for funding work on highways and bridges comes from the 28.8 cent per gallon gas tax and 27.9 cent per gallon diesel fuel tax. Nadeau said that as people drive less in response to higher gas prices, or as they buy more fuel-efficient vehicles, fuel tax revenues have fallen behind DOT needs.

In addition, steel and concrete prices have risen rapidly in the world market over the past two years, he said. “We saw a 35 percent increase in cost of construction two years ago, and another 15 percent last year,” Nadeau said. “That’s 50 percent in construction costs over two years.”

Meanwhile, the DOT has issued two bridge reports in 2007, one in April and one in November. The details in the two reports provide a wake-up call.

The latest report, “Keeping Our Bridges Safe,” issued Nov. 28, identifies 386 deficient bridges and cites an annual increase of investment of $50 million in addition to the $70 million already budgeted.

Baldacci ordered the bridge study after the collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis, Minn., on Aug. 1. The governor said Nov. 28 that Maine’s bridges are safe and that the inspection program is effective.

At present, 9 percent, or 244 bridges, of the state-owned bridge network are in poor condition, the DOT study says. “Poor” means that at least one superstructure, substructure or culvert and structural evaluation rating is less than or equal to four on a scale of one to nine.

Another 65 percent, or 1,765 bridges, are in fair condition. “Fair” indicates that at least one deck, superstructure, culvert or structural evaluation rating is five or six.

Almost 500 of the fair bridges are one rating point away from the poor category.

The remaining 26 percent, or 713 bridges, are in good condition. “Good” shows that all deck, superstructure, substructure, culvert and structural evaluation ratings are greater than or equal to seven.

The report concludes that the DOT has programmed 85 percent of funding for bridge replacements, with only 15 percent going for preservation treatments to realize the full service life of middle-age bridges.

If the trend continues, the study cautions, the number of bridges in poor condition will become unmanageable, and posting or closing will be the only way to ensure public safety.

The earlier report in April cited $2 billion in spending in replacement of the bridges the DOT manages.

The plan also said 288 bridges are deficient, or at risk of posting a lower speed or closing within 10 years. That figure jumped to 386 in the November report.

gchappell@bangordailynews.net

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