Bridging the Gap: Oklahoma climbs from 49th to 4th in nation for favorable bridge conditions

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — It's an accomplishment the State Department of Transportation has been working towards for twenty years. Oklahoma now ranks 4th in the nation for favorable bridge conditions.

"Every Oklahoman should be proud of that accomplishment," said Tim Gatz, the Director of ODOT.

Gatz said ODOT manages 6,800 bridges across the state.

Twenty years ago, the Federal Highway Administration ranked Oklahoma 49th in the nation for favorable bridge conditions.

Every dot on the following map, or 20% of the bridges ODOT manages, was labeled as "structurally deficient."

"It looked like the state of Oklahoma had the measles," said Gatz. "When you get to that point, you're moving with a sense of urgency."

Gatz said an average bridge can cost $2 million to replace, and it goes up from there. Back in 2004, they didn't have the funding.

So, state legislators gave the department funding through the Rebuilding Oklahoma Access and Driver Safety Fund.

"It's hundreds of millions of dollars if not into the billions," said Gatz.

The funding helped.

Over time, the 2004 map turned into this progress map by 2020.

This is the newest map. Now, only 35 of ODOT's bridges need some tuning.

"They're not unsafe; we would close those bridges immediately if they were unsafe. They just have things that we need to be paying attention to," said Gatz.

It's the lowest number the department has seen. Gatz said they have an 8-year construction plan to tackle those last few dots.

It's more reassurance for drivers and the economy, flowing on the crossroads of America.

"That shows we are making investments in safety and making good decisions on where we're putting taxpayer dollars," said Gatz.

Gatz said during routine bridge inspections, the department has found some bridges that are at risk of being on the red-dot list. They're working on fixing those areas as well.