Crumbling bridges. It happened to one in Palm Beach County and it’s what experts point to as an example of this nation's decaying infrastructure.
Sunil Khetarpal still finds it hard to believe that part of the US 1 Bridge at the corner of his rug and furniture business, Rex and Rex, collapsed back in October.
“It was mind-boggling that this could really really happen,” said Khetarpal.
No one crashed. It collapsed complete on its own.
“I mean I’ve seen a lot of bridges that are ratty, but this one I never thought was one of them. I was totally, totally surprised."
The bridge is back open thanks to temporary repairs. FDOT says it is in the preliminary planning phase for a replacement bridge.
The US 1 bridge that partially collapsed was deemed "functionally obsolete." It's one of as many as 87 other bridges in Palm Beach County considered to be "functionally obsolete” or "structurally deficient,” meaning they either don't meet current design standards or they're in desperate need of repairs.
“I think we do need to address these issues so more situations like that don’t happen,” said Dr. Alison Black with the American Road and Transportation Builders Association.
ARTBA just released a new report highlighting just how big the bridges problem is across the country.
The 2018 report showed that more than 54 thousand bridges across the country are considered "structurally deficient," 265 of them in Florida.
“What you’ve seen in your community is the extreme case of what is possible and what can happen and safety is the number one priority,” said Black.
As for Florida’s structurally deficient bridges, four of the most traveled bridges on the list are along I-95 near Daytona and Jacksonville.
However, compared to some other states like Iowa, Pennsylvania and New York, on the top ten list for having the most structurally deficient bridges, fortunately, Florida comes in at 41.
President Trump is expected to reveal his plan to fix the nation’s bridges and highways during Tuesday night's State of the Union.
