While the bridge collapse in Baltimore was due to a series of unlikely accidents rather than crumbling infrastructure, the incident has put renewed focus on the vulnerability of bridges across the U.S.
The big picture: The Department of Transportation considers 6.8% of the over 600,000 bridges it tracks and rates to be in "poor" condition. That doesn't sound too bad on a percentage basis, but it's over 40,000 bridges in total.
Breaking it down: West Virginia, Iowa, South Dakota and Rhode Island fare the worst, with 15% to 20% of the bridges in each state rated "poor."
- Georgia has the highest percentage of bridges in "good" condition (75%), while in Arizona, Nevada and Texas just 1% of bridges are rated "poor."
The trend nationwide is actually quite positive over the past two decades, according to the Department of Transportation data.
- The percentage of bridges in poor condition has been halved from 15.2% in 2000 to 6.8% now.
What to watch: The bipartisan infrastructure law sets aside $40 billion to further repair and rebuild the nation's bridges but that investment will take years to go from ink to concrete.
Go deeper: Biden wants federal funds to rebuild Baltimore bridge