Abstract
A national bridge inventory in 2006 classified 73,764 bridges (12.4%) as "structurally deficient." In its 2005 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation's bridge infrastructure a grade of C because of the large number of deficient bridges. Stating that this is not acceptable, the Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science and Technology outlines a course of action to safeguard the health of the nation's transportation infrastructure.