A federal assessment of the nation’s bridgework system reveals Bucks County to be one of the top five locations in need of repairs to its spans over waterways and highways. USA TODAY published the details.

Serious deterioration has caused More than 45,000 bridges nationwide to be tagged with a poor grade, the lowest of the assessment categories. That assessment comes from the Federal Highway Administration’s 2021 National Bridge Inventory report.

Bucks County has 137 currently rated poor.

That concentration places it in the top five areas nationwide with the highest concentration of questionable causeways.

The oldest local route is Waterworks Apartment Road over the Delaware Canal in New Hope, which dates to 1830. According to Google Maps, it is closed, presumably because of its unsafe status.

Crumbling, dangerous conditions have also been identified locally at:

• River Road over Buck Creek (Yardley)
• Butler Avenue over Neshaminy Creek (Chalfont)
• Buck Road over Mill Creek (Holland)
• Mountain View Road over Saw Mill Road (Nockamixon State Park)

Help, however, is coming. The infrastructure spending approved by Congress includes $40 billion allocated to repair or replace these aging assets.

Taken on a macro level, there has been progress in shoring up crumbling bridges nationwide.

In 2010, 11 percent of U.S. spans were deemed to be “structurally deficient.” Currently, that statistic is now seven percent.

More on the local bridgework infrastructure need is at USA TODAY.