Inventory of highway infrastructure problems through bridge inspection

The accurate description of the chronic issues that have flawed the inventory derived from the federal bridge-inspection program is lauded. However, the significance and logical order assigned to them are considered incorrect and the problems that have allowed them to persist are not identified. It is explained that the focus on field inspection is based, in part, on the experiences of one of the authors, a bridge inspector. Two major reasons are also cited for the flaws in characterizing bridge problems using the current inventory.