Bridges - Deck rehabilitation

FY2024

WSDOT has 131 concrete bridge decks due or past due for rehabilitation

As of June 2024, 72 of WSDOT's bridges (with 1.55 million square feet of deck area) were due for deck rehabilitation. This is a 7.5% increase from 67 bridges due for rehabilitation in June 2023 and a 5.4% increase over the approximately 1.47 million square feet due for rehabilitation in June 2023. It is also a 5.9% increase from the 68 bridge decks that were due for rehabilitation in June 2020.

In addition, 59 bridges (with 653,490 square feet of deck area) were past due for deck rehabilitation—a 22.9% increase from 48 bridges (with 413,596 square feet of deck area) in June 2023 and a 59.5% increase from 37 bridges in June 2020. This increase is largely attributable to the aging of WSDOT's bridges combined with the comparatively small number of bridge decks WSDOT has had the funding to rehabilitate over the last five years.

Rehabilitating due and past-due bridge decks requires an ever-increasing percentage of WSDOT bridge crew resources and comes at the expense of structural repairs. As of June 2024, WSDOT had 23 bridges (with 435,451 square feet of deck area) under contract to have their bridge decks rehabilitated. This is the same number of active projects as in 2023, when 23 WSDOT-owned bridges, covering a deck area of 436,203 square feet, were under contract.

In June 2024, there were two additional active deck projects that were not classified under the "Due" or "Past Due" categories: the Denny Way Lakeview and Lake Washington Ship Canal bridges, which together accounted for 3.6% (approximately 2.1 million square feet) of the state-owned bridge deck area. Given the substantial size of these bridges, performing proactive preservation helps reduce the overall life cycle costs of these bridges, resulting in significant savings compared to waiting for them to deteriorate further into the "Due" category. Although these two projects are very valuable for preserving the statewide inventory of bridges, the preservation work will not reduce the number of bridges due or past due for deck rehabilitation.

FY2023

WSDOT has 115 concrete bridge decks due or past due for rehabilitation

As of June 2023, 67 of WSDOT's bridges (with 1.5 million square feet of deck area) were due for deck rehabilitation. While this is the same number of bridges as reported in June 2022 (67), it represents a 3.5% increase over the 1.4 million square feet due for rehabilitation in June 2022 and a 19.6% increase from the 56 bridge decks that were due for rehabilitation in June 2019.

In addition, 48 bridges (with 413,596 square feet of deck area) were past due for deck rehabilitation—a 9.1% increase from 44 bridges (with 408,571 square feet of deck area) in June 2022 and a 60.0% increase from 30 bridges in June 2019. This increase is largely attributable to the aging of WSDOT's bridges combined with the comparatively small number of bridge decks WSDOT has had the funding to rehabilitate over the last five years.

Rehabilitating due and past-due bridge decks requires an ever-increasing percentage of WSDOT bridge crew resources and comes at the expense of structural repairs. As of June 2023, WSDOT had 23 bridges (with 436,203 square feet of deck area) under contract to have their bridge decks rehabilitated. This is an 81.7% decrease over the two WSDOT-owned bridges (with 2.4 million square foot deck area) under contract in June 2022.

FY2022

WSDOT has 111 concrete bridge decks due or past due for rehabilitation

As of June 2022, 67 of WSDOT's bridges (with 1.4 million square feet of deck area) were due for concrete bridge deck rehabilitation. This is a 2.9% decrease from 69 bridges (with 2.1 million square feet) due for rehabilitation in June 2021, and a 34.0% increase from the 50 concrete bridge decks that were due for rehabilitation in June 2018.

In addition, 44 bridges (with 408,571 square feet of deck area) were past due for concrete bridge deck rehabilitation—a 4.8% increase from 42 bridges (with 415,099 square feet of deck area) in June 2021 and a 120.0% increase from 20 bridges in June 2018. These increases are largely attributable to the aging of WSDOT's bridges combined with the comparatively small numbers of concrete bridge decks WSDOT has had the funding to rehabilitate over the last five years.

Rehabilitating due and past due concrete bridge decks requires an ever increasing percentage of WSDOT bridge crew resources, and comes at the expense of structural repairs. As of June 2022, WSDOT had 17 bridges (with 2.4 million square feet of deck area) under contract to have their bridge decks rehabilitated. This is a 616% increase over the two WSDOT-owned bridges (with 331,311 square foot deck area) under contract in June 2021.

FY2021

WSDOT has 111 concrete bridge decks due or past due for rehabilitation

As of June 2021, 69 of WSDOT's bridges (with 2.1 million square feet of deck area) were due for concrete bridge deck rehabilitation. This is a 1.4% increase from 68 bridges (with 2.5 million square feet) due for rehabilitation in June 2020, and a 64.3% increase from the 42 concrete bridge decks that were due for rehabilitation in June 2017. The I-90 Lacey V. Murrow Bridge is counted as one structure but includes two wide, long bridges—2,800 feet long and 65 feet wide, and 2,700 feet long and 74 feet wide—which dramatically affected the total square footage in poor condition.

In addition, 42 bridges (with 415,099 square feet of deck area) were past due for concrete bridge deck rehabilitation—a 13.5% increase from 37 bridges (with 325,060 square feet of deck area) in June 2020 and a 31.3% increase from 32 bridges in June 2017. These increases are largely attributable to the aging of WSDOT's bridges combined with the comparatively small numbers of concrete bridge decks WSDOT has had the funding to rehabilitate over the last five years.

Rehabilitating due and past due concrete bridge decks requires an ever increasing percentage of WSDOT bridge crew resources, and comes at the expense of structural repairs. As of June 2021, two WSDOT-owned bridges (with 331,311 square feet of deck area) were under contract to have their bridge decks rehabilitated.

FY2020

WSDOT has 68 concrete bridge decks due for repair in 2020, an increase of 20% from 56 in 2019

As of June 2020, 68 of WSDOT's bridges (with 2.5 million square feet of deck area) were due for concrete bridge deck repairs. This is a 20% increase from 56 bridges (with 1.6 million square feet) due for repair in June 2019, and a 45% increase from the 47 concrete bridge decks that were due for repair in June 2016.

In addition, 37 bridges (with 325,060 square feet of deck area) were past due for concrete bridge deck repair—an increase of 23% from 30 (with 38 bridges in June 2016. These increases are largely attributable to the aging of WSDOT's bridges combined with the comparatively small numbers of concrete bridge decks WSDOT has had the funding to repair over the last five years.

Repairing due and past due concrete bridge decks requires an ever-increasing percentage of WSDOT bridge crew resources, and comes at the expense of structural repairs. For example, WSDOT bridge maintenance crews performed extensive deck repair to the eastbound left lane on the I-90 Vantage Bridge in the summer and fall of 2020. These repairs provide a temporary fix until the 58-year-old deck can be rehabilitated again. The bridge has an existing concrete overlay that was applied in 1982.

As of June 2020, two WSDOT-owned bridges (with 29,550 square feet of deck area) were under contract to have their bridge decks repaired.