The 14th Street Bridge has a long, craggy hole near the area that once was a drawbridge. A span over Columbia Pike in Arlington County has exposed reinforcement bars. The joints holding up Chain Bridge have aged severely.Bridge inspection reports maintained by Washington area governments show that several major bridges are deteriorating and need repairs, with defects that range from missing chunks of concrete on an abutment of the Key Bridge to heavy structural deterioration on the 11th Street Bridge over the Anacostia River.
The inspection reports, which the federal government requires every two years, offer a striking picture of the state of area bridges and the difficult task officials face as they try to ensure safety. Despite significant flaws in some of the spans, engineers and transportation officials emphasize that the region's bridges are safe and that some deficiencies are largely cosmetic, not structural.
Any bridge would be closed immediately if inspections turned up an indication of imminent danger, officials said.
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