Pennsylvania’s infrastructure network is one of the most heavily used in the entire United States. With more than 40,000 miles of highway, tens of thousands of bridges, and a state transportation department — PennDOT — that consistently pushes for higher performance standards in every bid cycle,
ennsylvania has a bridge problem — and it is bigger than most people realize. With thousands of structurally deficient bridges scattered across the state, from rural townships to dense urban corridors, the commonwealth faces one of the most pressing infrastructure challenges in the entire United States.
You know that sinking feeling. It happens when you drive past a stretch of highway your team paved just three or four years ago, and you already see the cracks starting. Or worse, the potholes opening up after a particularly brutal winter. If you’ve been in
I was driving over a local bridge the other day—one of those older ones where you can feel the rhythmic thump-thump of the expansion joints—and I started thinking about how much we take these massive structures for granted. We trust thousands of tons of steel and
