Knowing that two lanes of a major bridge in the nation's capital had to be
closed for emergency repairs is scary enough. Finding out
what that damage looks like up close, and thinking about the 61,000 structurally deficient bridges in the United States, verges on being the stuff of nightmares:
The National Park Service granted The Huffington Post and a few other media outlets a rare tour inside the most damaged part of the 83-year-old bridge Monday afternoon. Corrosion in the interior bascule, or drawbridge, was evident even to the untrained eye. Rust has eaten through some of the beams and support structures, leaving holes where there clearly shouldn't be any. Reporters had to wear masks and avoid any steps marked with orange to avoid falling through.
Every structurally deficient bridge is not this seriously damaged ... but some of them are, and Congress is not investing in fixing this problem. Meanwhile,
millions of vehicles cross structurally deficient bridges every day, and when lanes of a bridge are closed for emergency repairs, as in Washington, D.C., and Virginia right now, local economies take a hit.