Washington’s aging infrastructure: WSDOT’s need for maintenance funding

KING COUNTY, Wash. – There are around 7,500 bridges that are open to traffic in Washington, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).

Most of us probably drive on a bridge or multiple bridges daily. For Evan Grimm, he doesn’t just drive on bridges, it’s his job to know their conditions.

“Any bridge open to traffic is safe to drive over,” Grimm said.

As the state bridge engineer for WSDOT, he said crews are constantly inspecting bridges, collecting information on their conditions, and then rating them on a scale of good, fair or poor.

“Poor doesn’t necessarily mean it’s failing, it just means it’s identifying more needs for us to do preservation,” Grimm said.

In King County, there are 928 WSDOT-owned bridges. Of those, 22 are currently rated in poor condition.

“People should feel safe crossing any bridge that’s open, however the concern would come when it comes to the long term outlook, because it is less costly to spend money earlier in the life of a structure than it is to wait until the condition worsens,” Grimm said.

Painting is preventative maintenance for steel bridges because it protects them from corrosion. Grimm told FOX 13, because they didn’t have the funding to do that on the Fairfax Bridge, it allowed the bridge to rust, which then caused it to weaken.

“Had this Fairfax Bridge been painted earlier in its life as we recommended, then it would still be in better condition and we would not have had to low post it,” Grimm said.

Grimm adds, they have received less funding over the last several years than they’ve needed to stay on top of the maintenance of the structures and their preservation. And while new federal funding helps, there’s a backlog. 

He likens long-term preservation needs for bridges to preserving your house.

“You need to paint the siding, if you don’t paint it, you’ll eventually have to replace it and it becomes more and more expensive over time,” Grimm said.

The life expectancy of a bridge is 75 years. In Washington, there are more than 300 bridges that are 80 years or older, but Grimm said don’t let that concern you because age is just one factor, and the most important is the bridge’s condition. Bridges and structures are inspected once every two years, but if there are concerns, they’ll inspect it more, according to Grimm.

WSDOT shared the location of the 22 bridges in King County with FOX 13 that are categorized in poor condition. The first number in the “bridge number” represents the road it’s on. For example, bridge # 2/118 is on US 2:

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