Troubled Bridges

Bridges are under scrutiny nationwide in the wake of the tragic collapse of the interstate span in Minneapolis. MetroNews, The Charleston Gazette and the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington are among those who assess the condition of Mountain State bridges.

"More than one in 10 West Virginia bridges are “structurally deficient,” according to federal bridge data — the same classification as a Minneapolis bridge that collapsed and killed at least four people Wednesday," the Gazette article said.

"West Virginia Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox says 37 percent of the state's approximately 6,500 bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete," MetroNews reports.

And the Herald-Dispatch notes that "A 2005 report by the American Society for Civil Engineers showed 27 percent of the nation's 590,750 bridges were structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, including 37 percent of West Virginia's 6,956 bridges."

MetroNews, Public Broadcasting (with audio) and West Virginia Media also revisit the infamous 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge in Mason County, which killed 46.