That’s a lot of bridges over troubled waters.
The Empire state ranks 11th in the nation for dilapidated bridges, as nearly every single span in the state — 99.46% — is in need of some kind of repair, a report said.
And nearly 10 percent of New York State’s 17,642 bridges were so bad they classified as “structurally deficient,” according to a 2024 report from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association.
The 10 worst are all in New York City. The bridge hall of shame included parts of I-95 and the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx — and most notoriously, the infamous, elevated stretch of the BQE at the Brooklyn Prominade.
“Usually you don’t want to be at the top of that list because it definitely indicates there are some challenges with the condition of bridges,” ARTBA Chief Economist Nicole Black told The Post.
Iowa came in first with 20 percent of that state’s bridges labeled “structurally deficient”, according to the report.
West Virginia came in second followed by South Dakota, Maine, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Michigan and North Dakota.
A rating of “structurally deficient”, means one of the bridge’s key structural elements — the deck, superstructure, substructure or culverts — are rated in poor or worse condition.
“It doesn’t mean the bridge is in danger of collapsing or falling down,” Black said.
Black said most DOTs reduce weight loads before a structure comes close to collapsing.
“If during the inspection process there’s any concern about the safety of a bridge or the traveling public, you’ll see DOT might close a lane of a bridge…or reduce the weight of trucks that can go over it — there are some measures that they can take to reduce the load on the bridge,” Black said.
But nearly all 17,548 of New York’s 17,642 bridges need some type of repair, according to the report, which is compiled using bridge inspection records collected by each state and turned over the the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The problem is getting worse, this year 68 more bridges in the state were classified as structurally deficient than last year.
Federal funds can help close the gap with transportation projects.
New York state is currently eligible for $1.2 billion in funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, but the state has only earmarked about $46.5 million of that money so far. The state still has until 2026 to spend the rest of the dough.
A spokesperson from the state Department of Transportation told The Post that money will be spread out across more than 235 individual local bridge projects through the Bridge NY program.
