The situation of Pennsylvania’s bridges is the worst in the whole nation as 6000 from 25000 bridges need to be repaired. Gov. Ed Rendell said yesterday that 1,145 bridges are in need of urgent repair.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the budget needed for these repairs raises up to $600 million, $200 per year. The governor said that these funds should be combined with the ones for road repair.

When it comes to statistics, authorities say that there are 35 bridges in Bucks County which need repairing, 26 in Chester County, 15 in Montgomery County, 9 in Philadelphia, and 6 in Delaware County. Many of these bridges are not very big.

To prove that these repairs are important, Rendell made an example of Minnesota, when a bridge collapsed last year, killing 13 people.

“We know what can happen when bridge needs are not addressed; we see tragedies like Minnesota,” Rendell said, reported the Philadelphia Inquirer.

This initiative is called “Rebuild Pennsylvania,” and the program is part of a $2 billion project to repair the bridges over the next 10 years.

Officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said that, leaving aside the structure problems of the 1.145 bridges, there are also deteriorated ramps and concrete piers, steel portions that are rusting and need to be painted.

Gov. Rendell said that the funding of $600 million would be paid from a special bridge account within Pennsylvania’s Motor License Fund.