Infrastructure Funding Boost Puts Historic Bridges At Risk

Here’s a look at the negative impacts of Biden’s Infrastructure Bill on America’s Historic Bridges. Will they benefit from this or will it be the last nail in the coffin? Feel free to comment.

I, Beckerman, not Robot

President Biden speaks about his infrastructure bill at a bridge across the Pemigewasset River in Woodstock, N.H., which has been declared “structurally unsafe.“

Historic bridges get no love, at least not from the civil engineering community.If you are a civil engineer, especially a bridge engineer, historic bridges are nothing but headaches.The concrete ones are probably rotted from the inside out, with outmoded and salt-ravaged rebar.The metal ones are riveted. Who does riveting anymore?There may be material loss from rusting.For some of the older ones, no one knows how they function.This isn’t taught in schools any more.For the average engineer, the numbers for rehabilitation don’t work.By the time the bridge gets to the attention of the design team, the bridge probably hasn’t been rehabilitated for 40-50 years.It is unlikely to have been maintained for the last 30 years.Neglect takes its toll.A proper rehab might give another 40 years of life…

View original post 1,653 more words