Los Angeles' Bridges Are Scary: Try Not to Stop Under One (Seriously)

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Try hot to stop under this bridge on the 10 at South Normandie Avenue. Trust us.

That honor would go to beautiful Pittsburgh, according to the latest Transportation for America report on The State of Our Nation's Bridges.

The bad news?

We drive on more crap bridges in L.A. than anywhere else in the nation -- because we drive more here.

So while we don't have the number of bad bridges as other big cities, we drive more miles and thus spend more time suspended above the air on giant question marks (and underneath them, too), apparently.

Transportation for America:

In Los Angeles ... 396 cars drive across a structurally deficient bridge every second of each day, on average. When ranking metros by the sheer volume of traffic on deficient bridges, California regions take several of the top spots, with the daily volume in Los Angeles at number one, more than double that of second place New York.

If any of you remember the Northridge earthquake of 1994, you'll recall that, yeah, bridges do come down occasionally, including an elevated section of the 10 freeway near South La Brea Avenue.

Nice.

Our wise mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, used the occasion of the report to call for more cash from Washington. He sayeth, according to City News Service:

It is clear that we cannot continue down this path of deferring all of our current transportation infrastructure needs for the next generation to tackle. Infrastructure projects that repair our roads, bridges and highways will create badly needed jobs here in Los Angeles and across the nation.

At least we beat New York. Maybe that's not bad news after all.

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]