MDOT rolls out bridge rating system

NILES, Mich – The Michigan Department of Transportation is rolling out a new program to monitor bridge conditions throughout the state. 

“I think it’s a great thing to see the conditions of what the bridges that we are driving on are,” Niles resident Garrett Tucker said. 

The new dashboard program gives people the ability to check the condition of the more than 11,000 bridges in the state. 

The program ranks bridges as good, fair, or poor with a general number scale for each level. 

MDOT spokesperson Nick Schirippa said the launch of the new app is an effort to be transparent. 

“This used a data set that we already had of course the locals are keeping track of their bridges we know we are keeping track of our bridges and the GIS mapping program that we are using already existed so it was just a matter of taking all these data sets and kind of throwing them together to make this map happen,” Schirippa said. 

Most Southwest Michigan bridges are rated as fair condition which means there is routine preventative maintenance to maintain the bridge.  

According to MDOT only 5-percent of Michigan bridges are in poor condition. 

A bridge that is considered in poor condition needs immediate attention but MDOT says those bridges don’t present a danger to drivers immediately and if it did it would’ve been closed. 

MDOT says this program is funded by money already in the existing budget. 

For more information about the dashboard program click here.