A Map of Every Bridge in the United States

Mapping the nation's 600,000 bridges reveals a remarkably fine-grained map of…the nation.

1 minute read

February 3, 2015, 1:00 PM PST

Luciano Mortula / Shutterstock

"In his 2016 budget, President Obama proposed a one-time tax on foreign earnings in order to fund a $478 billion program to upgrade the nation's roads, bridges, railroads and more. As policymakers debate the merits of the proposal in coming months, it helps to visualize what exactly we're talking about when we talk about the nation's infrastructure," writes Christopher Ingraham.

To create a resource to aid in that visualization, Wonkblog used data from the Federal Highway Administration's National Bridge Inventory and mapped every bridge in the United States longer than 20 feet.

Ingraham adds more language helpful in setting a political context for the mapping exercise: "The map illustrates the ubiquity of America's [sic] bridges -- it's basically impossible to go for a drive in any densely-populated area and not cross one. But each of those bridges -- all 600,000 of them -- need to be maintained. This maintenance costs money. And some states and localities do a better job of it than others."

FULL STORY: A surprisingly accurate map of the U.S. made with 600,000 bridges — and nothing else

Tuesday, February 3, 2015 in The Washington Post - Wonkblog

Infrastructure United States Maps Bridges National Bridge Inventory

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