BUILD America 250 Act looks good for county bridge funding prospects

Key Takeaways

Counties stand to receive a healthy infusion of funding to address bridges under the surface transportation bill, BUILD America 250 Act (H.R. 8870) passed May 22 on a bipartisan basis by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The five-year reauthorization includes a total of $580 billion, $30 billion more than 2021’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Estimates show that counties and other local governments will have access to 22 percent of funding in the bill, through formula set-asides, suballocation and discretionary grant opportunities, adding up to a 270% increase in funding for county-owned bridges, which could not come too soon, because more than 40,000 county-owned bridges are structurally deficient.

The bill, sponsored by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), would also protect the Safe Streets for All and PROTECT grant programs, both of which are prized by counties.

Counties maintain 38% of bridges, totaling 229,334. The $9 billion in annual bridge funding is up from $5.4 billion annually in the last surface transportation reauthorization, and 25% of that is reserved for locally owned bridges. The bill would also establish a 95% cost-share for locally owned bridge projects, helping rural counties afford the required funding to complete those projects. It all adds up to a 272% increase in federal bridge funding open to counties.

Mike Pniewski feels pretty good about the current state of the nearly 300 bridges in Lucas County, Ohio, where he is the elected county engineer. But look a few years down the road and that changes. 

“They’re in relatively good shape, but they’re aging quickly,” he said. “The majority of my inventory is between 60 to 80 years old, so in the next 5 to10 years, their condition is going to start to fade.

“Probably 20% to 30% of my bridges will be in fair to poor condition by then.” 

Increased demands on the roads, coupled with Ohio’s winters, accelerate infrastructure deterioration. As trucks get heavier, even once-durable structures are liable to crack, and water that gets inside brings the freeze-thaw cycle into the structure of the bridge, which speeds the deterioration.

“Over the last 20 to 30 years, you’ve seen a lot more freight, heavier freight,” he said. “Cars aren’t the ones causing a lot of damage to bridges. It’s the heavy loads on trucks that are the majority of your loads that cause the most damage and cause the most deterioration.” 

Most bridges built in the World War II era have a 75-year lifespan, Pniewski said.

“For every year after the end of your useful life, you’re just trying to do your best to keep it going before you have to do a full replacement. You can replace the deck, which gives you another 25 years, and that’s a lot cheaper than doing a full replacement, but you’re only kicking the can down the road to when it’ll be more expensive to replace everything.

“I only get federal funding to do a full replacement every four years.” 

Lucas County is doing two deck replacements in 2026, with a full bridge replacement scheduled for 2027. Most bridges in the county are single span, which simplifies repairs and replacements.

“If you have a multi-span bridge, the price goes up significantly.” 

In the meantime, that means rating the bridges that can’t handle full loads.

“You try to look at your bridges and look at it as a system and determine what your priorities are and do the cheapest repairs you can to try to extend their useful life as much as you can. But there comes a time when you just can’t do that anymore. And you have to eventually replace the bridge.”

With a 27% increase in federal bridge funding?

“That doubles or even triples the amount of bridges that I can do per year,” Pniewski said. 

Bridging the gap for surface transportation

NACo has published a report examining the state of county-owned road and bridge infrastructure, the limitations counties face in raising revenue to address repair and replacement needs and the inequities inherent in federal funding formulas. 

The report traces the inequities in how federal funding is distributed to local governments and the increasing demands on county-owned infrastructure. Although counties own 28% of federal-aid highway miles, states direct only about 14% of transportation funding to local governments overall, including counties, cities and towns. In 40 states, counties are limited in their ability to raise their own revenue. Congress can help through three specific actions:

Increase the share of formula funds available for local use to 25% from 15%

Simplify and accelerate access to federal grants and remove administrative burdens 

Strengthen planning and project selection to ensure that counties can access intended funding.

The report also illustrates how insufficient support for local infrastructure will cause economic hardship that will radiate from local residents to the regional and national economies.