ALASKA TRENDS.

Where would the people of Alaska be without bridges? Probably stuck or investing in a lot more boats. With its abundance of streams and rivers, bridges are they keystones of Alaska's transportation infrastructure.

These feats of modem (and ancient) engineering have been getting Alaskans from A to B since the early 1900s--and in some style. If you happened to catch this month's feature "About Bridges," you know that bridges can be just as much art as they are science. Alaska is home to a variety of unique and stunning bridges, including one of the only diverging diamond interchanges in the nation. The Glenn Highway and Muldoon Road Interchange opened to traffic in 2017. The diverging diamond interchange (also referred to as a double crossover diamond) is an advanced design that improves traffic flow, capacity, and safety all at once. Cross over to this month's installment of Alaska Trends for more bridge bits.

As of the 2015 published inspection data...

45.7% of bridges received a good condition rating

44.8% of bridges are in fair condition

9.5% of bridges are in poor condition

1,453 highway bridges were open to the public in 2015

1,453 highway bridges are open to the public, roughly half of those bridges are part of a conventional road system

Alaska's "other" bridges have short lifespans, limited public use or are seasonal, such as those in Denali National Park

35 years average bridge age...