Officials in Maryland are looking into bridge safety following the death of six people in Florida after a pedestrian bridge collapsed.
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Back in 1999, Maryland had a pedestrian bridge collapse on the Beltway. A backhoe on a flatbed truck clipped a footbridge causing it to fall onto the highway near Arbutus injuring six people and killing one.
Unsafe bridges are still a big concern in Maryland after reports from this year say hundreds of bridges are considered structurally deficient. According to that report released by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, there are 300 bridges in our state that are considered structurally deficient.
What that means is that one of the key elements of the bridge is in poor or even worse condition. This could include things like the deck or surface or the superstructure like the beams.
The state has identified more than 15 hundred bridges that need some kind of repairs that is estimated to cost nearly $2 billion.
