A Bridge Falls

And the country has cause to consider the state of its infrastructure.

MOST PEOPLE who have motored across America's massive bridges have had the thought: What if the span gives way? From the Brooklyn to the Mackinac to the Golden Gate, this country prides itself on its highway bridges -- feats of engineering, some of them iconic, that accept daily wear and tear without incident. The collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge between Minneapolis and St. Paul made those fears about crossing over a rushing river or a deep gorge on a suspended strip of pavement seem more reasonable.

We hope that investigators can quickly determine how and why the bridge collapsed and glean lessons for other bridges in need of repair. Even before that process ends, however, state and federal policymakers must consider how to better maintain America's vital infrastructure.

More than 75,000 of America's bridges, about 13 percent, are "structurally deficient," according to 2005 government figures. Some experts insist that the country's bridges are safe and that this week's bridge collapse was an "anomaly," as National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker told the Associated Press.

Indeed, catastrophic bridge failures are exceedingly rare in the United States. The Washington area also appears to be better off than average. The 2005 report found 9 percent of District bridges, 9 percent of Virginia bridges and 8 percent of Maryland bridges to be structurally deficient, and a District transportation official says that the city's number is now lower.

What this episode underscores, however, is that much of America's road and bridge infrastructure is aging and will require expensive repair or replacement in coming years. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that fixing all the structurally deficient bridges in the country would cost a whopping $188 billion over two decades. The District is a case in point: According to the D.C. Transportation Department's deputy chief engineer, the city has been able to maintain its bridges with the federal funding it has received, but it will require more federal help over the next 10 years to retrofit spans such as the 11th Street and 14th Street bridges.

Congress and the president need to start thinking about how to pay for improvement and repair in the District and across the country now, before the problem becomes more critical. That might include considering the first gas tax increase since 1993.