Bridge Condition Assessment

Inaccurate Data May Cause Inequities in the Apportionment of Federal-Aid Funds Gao ID: RCED-88-75 May 20, 1988

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA) 1986 Highway Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program (HBRRP) report to Congress, focusing on: (1) the accuracy of its National Bridge Inventory; and (2) FHwA procedures for ensuring equitable apportionment of federal funds to states.

GAO found that the FHwA report did not accurately identify bridge funding needs and could not ensure equitable apportionment of funds, since FHwA: (1) did not exercise sufficient control or oversight over its field offices to ensure that they adequately examined states' bridge inventory data or states' data collection and reporting methods; (2) did not obtain adequate data from states to differentiate among those bridges requiring total replacement, those requiring remedial improvements, and those that states did not intend to repair; (3) included bridges which were not deficient in its inventory; and (4) allowed states to use inconsistent methods and include inappropriate costs in their estimates of bridge repair costs.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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