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Sierra Sun Times: Congressman Jeff Denham Joins With 33 California Colleagues Pushing for Bridge Funding in Highway Reauthorization

April 22, 2015

U.S. Representative Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) today led a letter with 33 of his California colleagues to leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee urging them to prioritize funding for crumbling locally owned bridges across the nation as Congress works to reauthorize MAP-21, the 2012 law which last reauthorized federal surface transportation programs.

"Our nation's bridges are in dire need of funding," said Rep. Denham. "Modesto's own 7th street bridge is rated a 2 out of 100, making it unsafe for school buses to travel over, yet Central Valley residents are using it daily. Bridges like this must be a priority as we work to reauthorize surface transportation projects."

In his letter, Rep. Denham and colleagues wrote, "Without adequate investment in bridges, these vital components of our nation's transportation network will continue to deteriorate, threatening the safety and well-being of the traveling public. There is little room for error when it comes to bridge safety."

Specifically, the letter notes that locally-owned on-system bridges are at a significant disadvantage when competing for funding with state-owned on-system bridges. Roughly 3,000 bridges in California are structurally deficient, and for locally-owned bridges, there is an estimated funding shortfall of $1.3 billion over the next ten years. Over 52 percent of locally-owned California bridges are located on the Federal-Aid Highway System, leaving them at a disadvantage in securing funding when they compete for limited dollars. As the lawmakers wrote, "the lack of parity among bridge projects creates an undue burden and hardship on local governments and ultimately endangers our constituents as they use bridges that are ill equipped to handle sustained deterioration."

The full letter, which can be read here, was also signed by Reps. Grace Napolitano, Duncan Hunter, Julia Brownley, Mimi Walters, Janice Hahn, Devin Nunes, Jared Huffman, David Valadao, John Garamendi, Doug LaMalfa, Mike Thompson, Paul Cook, Ted Lieu, Steve Knight, Lois Capps, Ken Calvert, Mark Takano, Jim Costa, Juan Vargas, Jerry McNerney, Ami Bera, Judy Chu, Alan Lowenthal, Norma Torres, Mike Honda, Mark DeSaulnier, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, Raul Ruiz, Peter Aguilar, Tony Cárdenas and Anna Eshoo.