Over 230 Idaho bridges classed as ‘poor’ condition by federal government. See where
Editor’s note: This story and visualization are part of our new “Data In Your Life” series, in which we mine public databases to tell quick stories about the world around us.
In late March 2024, a 985-foot container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, bringing a portion of the 1.6-mile-long bridge down in less than 40 seconds.
Although the Key Bridge might have fallen no matter its condition, the high-profile accident focused attention on bridge safety nationwide. The Federal Highway Administration maintains a public database of bridge ratings in every state that considers multiple parts of a bridge’s structure, including the deck, superstructure, substructure and culvert.
The federal government assigns three designations to rate the condition of bridges: Good, fair and poor. In 2023, the Key Bridge was in the “fair” group, along with about 49% of the country’s bridges. Another 44% are rated “good” and almost 7% are “poor.”
The Key Bridge in Baltimore relied on piers, which were essential to its structural integrity.
Without sufficient protective barriers surrounding the piers, other bridge components couldn’t compensate for the missing support when the large container ship, called the Dali, crashed into one of the piers, The New York Times reported in March. Even with stronger protective barriers, it’s possible the bridge still wouldn’t have been able to withstand a hit from such a large ship.
What is the condition of Idaho bridges?
In Idaho, 66 percent of the state’s thousands of bridges carry the “fair” rating. About 5 percent of Idaho’s bridges were rated as being in “poor” condition as of 2023. The data does not include the commonly used names of the bridges.
Ada County doesn’t have any bridges in poor condition, but Idaho has 235 that are classified as being in poor condition. The county with the most bridges considered in poor condition is Shoshone County in northern Idaho, with 26 bridges classified as poor.
