Why are all the bridges falling down? Welcome to Trip Bitten, my name is Miguel and I recently saw
a video by CNBC titled "Why are us bridges in such bad shape?" I watched the video and I thought it
was interesting, but then started thinking about all the bridges I have crossed here in China.
I've been living here for a long time and I've seen many bridges in person
and on social media. I never really given it much thought until now, so in this video I
wanted to answer the question are Chinese bridges better than American bridges? It might seem silly
to compare, but I find it really interesting and the outcome might actually surprise you.
There are four main points I want to tackle in order to see which country has the best bridges.
I will address all four points starting with when the bridges were built. Many of the bridges built
in China have been completed in the last 10 to 20 years, which makes them seem better, and arguably
to some extent, they are better because they are newer but newer doesn't always equal better.
Many of the bridges that are in bad shape in America are coming to the end of their lifespan.
The CNBC video said many of the bridges were built in the 1950s and 1960s with a 100 year life span,
which means many of them are reaching the end of their usability without major repairs. When
we compare that to China's newer bridges that were built with newer engineering techniques and modern
technologies, it might be easy to claim that china's bridges are better. Take for example, the
Huangpu Bridge, which was open to traffic in 2008. This bridge is only 14 years old and is one of the
largest bridges in China. The Fourth Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge is another good example,
this bridge was completed in 2012 and is only 10 years old. With their stunning views,
it isn't hard to see why some people point to these bridges and declare Chinese bridges the
best in the world. But we have to remember that when the golden gate bridge was opened in 1937,
people also proclaimed that it was one of the greatest bridges in the world at the time. "From
each end of the bridge the motorcade speeds up to meet in the center and symbolize the completion
of a great engineering achievement!" I mean from the footage it looks like they even had warships
and planes and a whole parade when it opened. The point I'm making is China's bridges seem better
because they are newer and we have to keep that in mind when comparing both nations. But we have
to address the elephant in the room it is easy to show pictures and videos of beautiful bridges, but
that doesn't actually mean they are better. Some bridges in China have collapsed in recent years
and some bridges in the US have collapsed. It is easy to cherry pick specific stories and create a
narrative around these events. One narrative could be a bridge collapsed in china, so all bridges are
poorly constructed. Another narrative could say the same thing about the bridges in the US. Nobody
ever talks about the thousands of bridges that never collapse in each country. According to data,
China now has over 800,000 bridges and the US has over 600,000 bridges. When we watch or read the
news it is important to understand the narrative behind the story. Is the story written to create
a better understanding of the actual situation or is it designed to influence the audience?
When we actually look at what's going on we can see that bridge failure is quite normal. According
to Dr. Paul Barr of USU, "the average number of bridge collapses based on a sample population
was approximately 1 out of 4 700 annually." This means we would expect to see around 128
bridge failures each year in the US. The research stated, "based on the data extrapolation and 95%
confidence interval the estimated average annual bridge collapse rate in the United States is
between 87 and 222 with an expected value of 128." How does this compare to China? A report presented
at the 6th congress on forensic engineering stated, "A total of 157 bridge collapses,
not including the ones caused by earthquake, were collected from the public media report in China
from January 2000 to March 2012. Obviously, more bridges have collapsed since 2012
and this report has to be taken with a grain of salt because it is pulled from public data, but
the numbers reported aren't beyond expectations. If the math of 1 out of 4 700 bridges fail,
holds up in China, we would expect to see around 170 bridge failures each year in China.
Obviously, we haven't seen thousands of bridge failures each year in China and the ones we
have seen are within the expected range of the total number. So, before you start commenting
derogatory terms like tofu construction, it is important to look at the facts and the data that
is presented in the story you're reading to see if it accurately reflects the situation or is it
the media trying to create a specific narrative for you to believe. Now that we have that out of
the way, let's move on to the third point that we have to cover which is cost. Bridges cost a lot
of money to build. The CNBC video made a point about this and said that most of the state and
local governments don't have the funding needed to build new bridges or maintain the current bridges,
which is why many of them are in such bad shape. If you happen to follow the us news, you will know
that the department of transportation is criminally underfunded by congress
along with other departments that build and maintain infrastructure. This is why the US has
not been funding infrastructure projects. It has become such a problem that Senator Biden even made
it part of his presidential campaign to fix roads, bridges, and ports. After winning his campaign,
President Biden pushed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which passed,
and will provide around $1 trillion US dollars to rebuild the country's failing infrastructure.
But even with this bill passed it might not actually solve the problems the US is facing.
A report by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) found that
225,000 bridges, around 36 percent, need repair and 79,500 need to be replaced.
The cost of repairing 45,000 structurally deficient bridges, which are on average 68
years old, is $41.8 billion US dollars, using data from the US Department of Transportation.
This means that if the US wanted to repair or replace all 299,500 bridges, it would cost over
$250 billion US dollars. This is a lot of money, which has to come from somewhere. But wait,
the US is the richest country in the world with a GDP around $21 trillion US dollars. So, why can't
it afford these repairs? Well, that brings us to our last point, which is government spending.
We know it costs a lot of money to build and maintain bridges. So, how can one country with
200,000 more bridges and a smaller annual GDP maintain and build new bridges while the other
country is struggling to pass infrastructure bills? According to stats, the US spent around
$153 billion dollars on infrastructure in 2021, but how does that compare to china?
"At Beijing’s behest, local governments have drawn up lists of thousands of “major projects,”
which they’re being put under intense pressure to see through. Planned investment this year,
2022, amounts to at least $2.3 Trillion US Dollars, according to a Bloomberg analysis."
Regardless of your personal thoughts about labor laws or labor rights in China, it is clear that
one country is investing a lot more into their infrastructure. But we haven't actually answered
the original question of "which country has better bridges?" I think we have to look at the data to
make any real comparison. Both countries have had bridge failures, but at a predictable rate.
So, from an engineering aspect, it is hard to say one country is better than the other.
This might not be the answer you wanted to hear, but my agenda is not to say one country
is better or worse. The point is to hopefully help viewers question their news sources and dig deeper
into each headline they read. It's very easy to get skewed information, especially if you already
have a specific opinion about a topic or country. The bottom line is China is currently investing
more money into infrastructure, while the us is investing money into other projects. Hopefully,
the next time you see a headline like "Are Chinese bridges better than us bridges?" you'll be able to
honestly assess the clickbait and not get caught up in the hateful comments or media agendas.
If you like this video, I'm sure you'll like my last video which you can watch here. Be sure to
join the interesting debate in the comments and I hope to see you in the next video. Bye!