Bridge on La. 30 (Nicholson Drive) closed

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The bridge is South of the S Lee/Brightside intersection. 

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Louisiana is one of only 10 states with more structurally deficient bridges in 2014 than the prior year, according to John Olivieri of the United States Public Interest Research Group.

The US PIRG is a federation of consumer advocacy groups. It investigated 2014 Federal Highway Administration data on bridges.

It found 187 new bridges have since 2011 been downgraded to structurally deficient, a technical rating used to determine bridges' needs.

The report comes at time when the state is grappling with how to shrink a $12 billion backlog in deferred road and bridge maintenance. And state and federal gas taxes, which provides money for transportation infrastructure, are flat and failing to keep up with inflation.

10 most traveled structurally deficient La. bridges
Eric Kalivoda, Department of Transportation and Development deputy secretary, told the state's House appropriations committee March 24 the department forecasts Louisiana will have serious problems with the condition of its bridges in 10 years.

Kalivoda said the vast majority of those bridges were built in late 50s through the early 1970s. The bridges are reaching their design life and deficiencies will grow substantially.

"We are going to do something about it or we're going to be closing a lot of bridges," he said.

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