Tag Archive for: U.S. transportation infrastructure

Rural Connectivity: How Bridges Support Local Economies | U.S. Bridge

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In rural communities, a bridge is rarely just a way to cross a river or stream. It can be the route a farmer uses to move equipment and products, the road employees take to work, the connection families rely on to reach schools and healthcare, and the path emergency responders need when every minute matters.

When that connection becomes outdated, weight-restricted, or closed, the effects can extend well beyond the bridge itself. Longer detours increase transportation costs, businesses become harder to reach, freight movement can slow, and residents may lose convenient access to essential services.

That is why rural bridge infrastructure plays an important role in local economic development. By maintaining reliable connections between people, businesses, farms, services, and regional transportation networks, bridge investments can help rural communities remain competitive and connected.

For U.S. Bridge, headquartered in Cambridge, Ohio, that connection between bridge infrastructure and rural economic vitality is especially meaningful. For generations, the company has worked with counties, townships, municipalities, and other partners to build bridges that keep communities moving.

Why Are Bridges Important to Rural Economies?

Bridges support rural economies by providing reliable access to jobs, businesses, farms, healthcare, schools, emergency services, and regional markets. When a bridge is replaced or upgraded, it can reduce detours, improve freight movement, strengthen transportation reliability, and make it easier for people and goods to move throughout a region.

The U.S. Department of Transportation Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program recognizes that connection. The program supports infrastructure projects intended to increase rural connectivity, improve the safe and reliable movement of people and freight, generate regional economic growth, and improve quality of life.

For rural communities, these benefits can be particularly significant because alternative routes may be limited. Closing one crossing can turn what was once a short drive into a lengthy detour.

The economic effects can ripple throughout a community.

Keeping Farms and Rural Businesses Connected

Agriculture, manufacturing, forestry, construction, and other industries common in rural areas depend heavily on reliable transportation.

A bridge with weight restrictions may force trucks, farm machinery, or other heavy vehicles to take alternate routes. A closed bridge can increase mileage, fuel consumption, delivery times, and transportation costs.

Conversely, a modern bridge designed for current transportation needs can restore a more direct connection between rural businesses and the markets they serve.

Research and infrastructure organizations have repeatedly highlighted this broader effect. Bridges are critical links within transportation networks, helping connect rural economies with local and regional markets while expanding access to employment and essential services.

For a local farmer, that might mean a more efficient route for moving crops or equipment. For a manufacturer, it could mean more reliable freight access. For a small business, it can mean keeping customers connected instead of sending traffic miles out of the way.

The bridge itself may occupy only a small part of the transportation network, but its economic reach can extend much farther.

An Ohio Example: Connecting Marion and Wyandot Counties

The importance of rural bridge infrastructure can be seen close to home.

In 2021, U.S. Bridge designed, fabricated, and installed a new bridge connecting Marion and Wyandot Counties in Ohio. The crossing is located along a rural stretch of Route 68 spanning Salt Rock Township in Marion County and Pitt Township in Wyandot County.

The existing bridge over the Little Sandusky River provided a narrow crossing measuring approximately 70 feet long and just 15.3 feet wide.

The replacement modernized the crossing by increasing the span to 80 feet and widening the bridge to 24 feet.

For communities like these, bridge improvements are about more than dimensions on an engineering drawing. They help counties maintain the transportation networks residents, agricultural operations, businesses, and service providers depend on every day.

Reliable rural infrastructure creates the foundation for everything else that needs to move through a community.

Reducing the Economic Cost of Bridge Closures

Sometimes the economic value of a bridge becomes most obvious when the bridge is unavailable.

Closures and lengthy construction projects can create additional travel time, disrupt commercial activity, complicate freight routes, and make access more difficult for residents and emergency services. Temporary bridge solutions can help support business continuity and preserve important transportation connections while permanent infrastructure work moves forward.

Accelerated construction methods can also significantly reduce the amount of time a critical crossing is unavailable.

U.S. Bridge saw the importance of speed firsthand during a bridge replacement project in Muskingum County, Ohio.

Using a modular approach with steel tub girders and an SPS deck, bridge sections were fabricated off-site and the superstructure was set in approximately 20 minutes. From demolition of the existing bridge through construction of new abutments and the superstructure, the crossing reopened to traffic in just 26 days.

Accelerated bridge construction can be especially valuable in rural areas, where there may not be a convenient parallel route available. Every day a bridge remains closed can mean another day of longer trips for workers, deliveries, school transportation, emergency vehicles, and local businesses.

Bridges Expand Access to Opportunity

The economic importance of connectivity is not unique to Ohio—or even the United States.

Organizations working in isolated rural communities around the world have documented how dramatically access can change after a bridge is built.

Through its work in Rwanda, Bridges to Prosperity has helped connect rural populations that previously faced dangerous or unreliable river crossings. According to the Trafigura Foundation, bridges built in these communities have expanded access to markets, employment, education, and healthcare.

One resident of Rwanda’s Nyarusange community described how a new crossing created employment opportunities while also providing dependable access to farmland regardless of weather conditions.

The geography and scale may be different from rural Ohio, but the underlying principle is the same:

Reliable transportation creates access, and access creates opportunity.

How Prefabricated Steel Bridges Can Support Rural Infrastructure

Rural bridge projects often come with unique challenges. Counties and townships may have limited budgets, small project teams, constrained sites, difficult terrain, and a strong need to minimize road closures.

That makes prefabricated steel bridges particularly useful for many rural applications.

Much of the fabrication can be completed in a controlled manufacturing environment before bridge components arrive at the project site. This approach can simplify field construction and help reduce the amount of work that must occur at the crossing itself.

As we’ve explored in Why Use Prefabricated Bridge Construction?, prefabrication can offer important advantages when speed, quality control, and reduced on-site construction are priorities.

U.S. Bridge also outlines its approach in The U.S. Bridge Prefabricated Steel Bridge Process, from engineering and fabrication through delivery and installation.

Prefabricated truss bridges can be particularly well suited for challenging replacements over streams and railroads on low-volume roads. Depending on project conditions, they can help minimize the number of required substructures and address other construction challenges associated with rural sites.

U.S. Bridge’s Cambridge and Cambridge Flat bridge designs, for example, are engineered for applications that include rural environments.

For local governments, the goal is straightforward: create a durable crossing while restoring reliable access as efficiently as possible.

Building Bridges—and Economic Opportunity—in Ohio

U.S. Bridge’s connection to rural economic development extends beyond the bridges it manufactures.

U.S. Bridge was founded in Ohio in 1936, initially serving local governments, townships, counties, and small towns. Today, its headquarters and manufacturing operations remain in Cambridge, Ohio.

That Ohio footprint is growing.

As detailed in The People Behind the Steel: Spotlight on U.S. Bridge Workforce Expansion, U.S. Bridge’s major expansion in Guernsey County includes a new 70,000-square-foot facility dedicated to advanced welding and prefabricated production. The expansion is expected to create approximately 41 new full-time jobs and more than $2.3 million in new annual payroll.

That creates an economic cycle closely connected to infrastructure investment: Ohio workers manufacture bridges that support transportation networks in communities across the country, while continued investment in manufacturing creates additional jobs and economic activity at home.

It is another example of how infrastructure and economic development are closely linked.

Investing in the Connections Rural Communities Depend On

A bridge may connect two sides of a river, but its impact can connect much more.

It can connect a farmer to a market. A worker to a job. A student to a school. A patient to healthcare. A business to its customers. And a rural community to the broader economic opportunities around it.

That is why investing in rural bridge infrastructure is ultimately an investment in the people, businesses, and communities those bridges serve.

From rural county roads in Ohio to infrastructure projects across the country, U.S. Bridge continues to engineer and manufacture durable steel bridge solutions designed to keep communities connected.

When the right bridge is in the right place, the benefits extend far beyond the crossing itself.

Frequently Asked Questions About Rural Bridges and Local Economies

How do bridges help rural economies?

Bridges help rural economies by connecting residents and businesses to jobs, markets, schools, healthcare, emergency services, and regional transportation networks. Reliable crossings can reduce travel times and detours while supporting more efficient movement of agricultural products, freight, equipment, and people.

What happens economically when a rural bridge closes?

A rural bridge closure can increase travel distances, fuel costs, freight expenses, and travel times. It can also reduce convenient access to local businesses and complicate school transportation and emergency response, particularly when few alternative routes exist.

Why are prefabricated bridges useful in rural areas?

Prefabricated bridges can reduce the amount of fabrication and construction required at the project site because major components are produced in a controlled environment before delivery. This can help simplify installation and minimize disruption, which is particularly valuable on rural routes with limited detour options.

Does U.S. Bridge build bridges for rural communities?

Yes. U.S. Bridge engineers and manufactures multiple steel bridge systems suited for rural applications and has a long history of working with counties, municipalities, townships, and other public and private infrastructure partners.

Planning a rural bridge replacement or infrastructure project? Explore U.S. Bridge’s prefabricated steel bridge solutions or contact our team to discuss the needs of your community.

Congestion Pricing and the Bridge Industry

Congestion Pricing And The Bridge Industry

Congestion pricing has become a topic of interest, as many commuters are being affected by it. However, this audience also includes the bridge industry. With more bridges aging quickly, repairs and replacement are needed. But with limited financial resources, effective congestion pricing may be the solution for bridge managers, as bridge maintenance costs are often included in the price. However, there are pros and cons to the impact of this practice.

Congestion Pricing 101

Congestion pricing is the charge that people pay for using public assets, such as bridges, tunnels, or other infrastructure. In other words, it is the toll charges that commuters must pay. These charges differ in amounts of money depending on timely demand for use of the asset. For instance, in the case of bridges, the toll charge increases during peak hours. The fundamental concept is that at a cost of zero, public asset usage would increase astronomically. Thus leading to more overcrowding and faster deterioration of the infrastructure.

“If a good or service is provided free of charge, people tend to demand more of it — and use it more wastefully — than they would if they had to pay a price that reflected its cost. Hence, congestion pricing is premised on a basic economic concept: charge a price in order to allocate a scarce resource to its most valuable use, as evidenced by users’ willingness to pay for the resource.”

Testimony from a 2003 United States Congress Joint Economic Committee

What Experts Say

Congestion pricing was created to control demands during times of peak use. Economists say that this pricing strategy is most successful when people understand the costs they pay during peak demand. This higher price forces them to pay for “negative” habits, like overloading bridges during heavy traffic. So, people who truly need to use the public asset, are more willing to pay the higher cost. Whereas, those who have more flexibility, could change the time of their commute or choose a different route. In brief, congestion charges encourage consumers to readjust their demand by location or time.

Alleviating Overcrowding

Many large cities around the world are already adopting the practice of congestion pricing. Also, smaller cities that experience overcrowding are taking advantage of it. To alleviate the overcrowding issue, there are metro areas that are beginning to develop plans to include such charges in the next few years.

Negative Effects of Congestion Pricing

Like everything, there are some negative effects to this practice. Critics claim that congestion pricing is not an equitable practice because it creates more economic and social burdens on certain communities. For instance, people who are dependent on a particular transportation service may find themselves restricted. Further, this practice may pose a decrease of economic activity in certain areas.

Economists say that when implementing this practice, certain issues should be considered:

  • Define the objectives: reduce traffic, lower congestion, generate revenue, etc.
  • Determine the best way to set and collect fares or tolls.
  • Ensure that revenue covers basic expenses while providing enough to pay for improvements and new development.
  • Decide what to do with excess revenue.
  • Prevent negative impact on vulnerable communities and populations.

U.S. Bridge Steel Bridges Stand the Test of Time

These are some of the points that should be considered so that the program can be successful. It is important to recognize that using good congestion pricing strategies can be a good way to control usage and slow down decay. Further, this practice can generate revenue that could be implemented in the repair, replacement, or addition of infrastructure. The good thing is that U.S. Bridge steel bridges stand the test time. Our bridges are engineered and manufactured with longevity at its core. Contact us today or get a quote online and start your project today.

2018 Bridge Industry Economic Projections

2018 Bridge Industry Economic Projections

Rumors have been circulating that the federal government is ready to pour a lot of funds into U.S. infrastructure. Beyond rumors, though, what is the real economic outlook for our industry? Below are some key Bridge Industry Economic Predictions and what we can expect throughout 2018.

Strong Overall Outlook

With a dropping unemployment rate and low inflation, the overall outlook for construction growth in 2018 is very positive.  General construction work is estimated to grow by five percent. More specifically, signs indicate that the Southern and Western United States will see the biggest impact on growth. While the cost of building materials is likely to rise by a little over two percent, overall industry growth is still expected.

Bridges and Roads

Bridge Industry Economic Projections estimate that bridges and roads will be the biggest growth segment in the nonbuilding sector. This is in part due to the government’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) program. This program will fund up to 10 highway and bridge projects. However, it has not yet been voted on.

State by State

The overall growth of road and bridge construction may seem minimal when applied to the entire U.S. as a whole. However, some states will see more growth than others. According to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), California, Florida, New York, Hawaii, Virginia, and Washington are poised to see the most local growth in the construction industry. Additionally, total spending on public bridge and tunnel construction is expected to top out around $31.3 billion, a slight increase over 2017.

Signs for a Strong Future

Most assume that the federal government will pass INFRA, adding funds to the construction industry in 2018 and early 2019. These projects would undoubtedly bring long-term growth for years to come. Further, with nine percent of the U.S.’s bridges and roads deemed structurally deficient and in need of repair, the need for bridge and roadway construction will likely continue for decades.

To find out more about Bridge Industry Economic Projections and what U.S. Bridge is doing to help, please contact us today. At U.S. Bridge, we have designed and manufactured bridges for over 80 years, providing the pathways that keep America moving.

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