Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell says the nation’s bridges are in crisis, and should get the same attention as the mortgage foreclosure crisis. He and others released a report on Monday on the state of thousands of bridges throughout the United States.

Governor Rendell and highway and transportation officials want the federal government to make bridge repair a priority. Rendell says the government needs a capital budget:

“We have a legitimate crisis with these bridges. You could pay $140 billion for 20 years, and that’s how capital budgets spread out the cost. Does $140 billion ring a bell with you? Well, it should — because that’s what we’re spending in Iraq each and every year.”

Rendell says 411 bridges are currently being rebuilt in Pennsylvania, but another 5,000-plus still need to be fixed.

With the recent four-day closure of I-95 for emergency repair and a similar situation in Pittsburgh, Rendell calls Pennsylvania the “poster child” for bridge repair.
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