As the nation turns its attention to bridge safety and infrastructure at the one-year anniversary of the I-35 disaster in Minneapolis, the Southwest remains a bright spot in the U.S.

“Our bridges are some of the best in the nation,” says Scott Magruder, public information officer for the Nevada Dept. of Transportation (NDOT). “Part of that is we are a relatively new state--a lot of our bridges have been built in the last 10 to 15 years to the latest AASHTO standards.”

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There are 1,764 public bridges in Nevada and most of them are under NDOT maintenance. Of those, 37 are either structurally or functionally deficient, but most of them are bridges that just need to be widened or need relatively minor repairs, Magruder says.

All of the state’s bridges are inspected once every two years, with structurally deficient bridges on a one-year schedule. Major projects include the Hoover Dam Bridge and the $393.4-million I-580 extension, which includes 9 bridges to be completed in 2011.

Arizona also inspects its regularly, but did conduct a review of all bridges last year in the wake of the I-35 disaster at the request of Gov. Janet Napolitano (D). “That review showed our bridge inventory was in very good shape,” says Doug Nintzel, Arizona DOT spokesman.

The climate plays a major role in Arizona’s bridge health, says John Carlson, a vice president with Tempe-based Sundt Construction’s heavy civil division. Sundt performed $645.9 million of work in Arizona in 2007, $165.4 million of which was in transportation, according to a Southwest Contractor survey conducted in April. “We also utilize a lot of post-tensioned box girder bridges that are to a large degree protected from the elements,” Carlson says. Arizona has very few steel girder bridges which are more susceptible to wearing, he adds.

Of the $1 billion in federal funding for bridge repair that Congress approved in December 2007, Southwest states are receiving very little. New Mexico received the most, getting $3 million. The New Mexico DOT (NMDOT) identified one bridge, which carries Interstate-25 traffic over the Rio Salado River north of Socorro, as the most critical need for the funding, says Jimmy D. Camp, a representative from the NMDOT’s engineering support division. “The money will be spent on new pier and abutment caps, a new superstructure, a new deck and new bridge railing,” he says. “This will use the entire $3 million.” The project is currently in design.

NMDOT hasn’t instituted any major changes to its inspection program, though several concrete box culvert bridges were changed from a four-year to a two-year inspection cycle, Camp says.

Funding is an issue in all three states. Nevada DOT “has a $6-billion shortfall for capacity improvements through 2014, but it’s too early to tell whether any bridges that might be on that list to be replaced are not going to get the funding they need,” Magruder says. Nevada is looking at private-public partnerships and other funding methods to make up the shortfall.

“Costs have dramatically increased over the past several years for infrastructure construction and maintenance, yet funding has remained relatively unchanged,” Camp says. “There is uncertainty of future federal transportation funding with the Highway Trust Fund projected not to bring in revenues to support present levels of funding.”

Arizona voters will have a chance to approve $42.6 billion in multi-modal transportation funding in the November election. “If we don’t enact this new funding stream, it is expected that by the year 2013, ADOT will be relegated to just a maintenance program with no new capacity being built due to the costs and shortages of funding,” Carlson says.