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Report: More than 55,000 US bridges structurally deficient

WASHINGTON — The Brooklyn Bridge and Washington's Arlington Memorial Bridge are among thousands of spans considered structurally deficient, according to a new report.

Although the numbers of deficient bridges have declined in recent years, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association's analysis of transportation department data shows that of nearly 23,000 bridges in the U.S., more than 55,000 of them - or 20 percent - have been deemed deficient.

ARBTA said deficient bridges are crossed about 185 million times a day. The top 14 most-traveled deficient bridges are located in California.

In Pennsylvania, the worst bridges are located in the Philadelphia-area. In the Pittsburgh-area, top most-traveled deficient bridge is the Pennsylvania Turnpike bridge over Route 22, with the Liberty Bridge coming in second place.

Pennsylvania officials have identified 12,000 bridges that need repairs, which will cost about $12 million.

“As more bridges are repaired, you have even more just coming on the list. So that's where we get that slow, slow pace of improvement, which just isn't fast enough,” said Alison Black, of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.

Bridges labeled structurally deficient aren't necessarily in immediate danger of collapse. The term is applied when spans need rehabilitation or replacement because at least one major component has advanced deterioration or other problems.

President Donald Trump said he wants to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure, including better roads and bridges.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.