A group pushing for more infrastructure spending has listed several California cities, including San Francisco, San Jose and Stockton as having among the nation’s highest percentage of structurally deficient bridges.

Transportation for America’s report, which will be released with updated figures at a press conference tomorrow, analyzes the federal National Bridge Inventory database and finds one in nine U.S. bridges are structurally deficient. The report said most U.S. bridges are at an age, about 50 years old, where they need overhaul or replacement, and that California is at the top of the list in the number of deficient bridges that carry heavy traffic.

San Jose is second in cities of up to two million population, with 18.7 percent of its bridges, or 189, ranked deficient, with daily traffic listed as nearly 6 million trips. San Francisco ranks second in cities over two million, with 20.9 percent, or 380, of its bridges ranked deficient, carrying 15 million trips on average each day.

The report said bridges are very expensive and complicated to repair or replace because so many drivers use them each day. The report calls for overhauling the way they are funded and prioritized, saying the problem can’t be fixed just by spending more money. State formula funding doesn’t work, the report said, recommending instead that states “should be required to show that they have taken care of what they have before they spend repair money on new capacity they can’t afford to maintain.

The report also says ending bike and pedestrian programs as some members of Congress want to do is stupid, in so many words, because it won’t make a dent in bridge repair.

Transportation for America is made up of a lot of local officials, including many from California, along with smart-growth, environmental, bicycle, real estate, architectural and other groups.

Article source: http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2011/10/18/bay-area-bridges-deemed/