Lawmakers Hear Urgent Warnings on Local Bridge Backlog, New Federal Load-Rating Deadline

Local road officials and Michigan Department of Transportation engineers told the House Transportation Infrastructure Committee on the record that the state faces a widening local-bridge crisis driven by environmental requirements, aging structures and new federal data mandates.

"Local roads are in serious condition," said Ed, a presenter for the County Road Association, describing a recent rise in bridges on local inventories and warning that deferred maintenance has produced a roughly $1 billion backlog of critical and closed local bridges. Denise Donahue, the County Road Association's CEO, said counties added about 153 bridges to the local roster since 2015 as larger culverts now meet the federal definition of a bridge.

MDOT chief bridge engineer Rebecca (Becky) Curtis told the committee that federal rules require additional inventory and load-rating information in the National Bridge Inventory, and that many local owners lack permit-level load ratings for heavier, permit-authorized vehicles. "We have to reload rate all of the bridges to meet this new inventory requirement," Curtis said, adding that the agency and local partners are working on contracts and…