Source: Yale Climate Connections

Excerpt:

The U.S. has more than 600,000 bridges, and they’re not made to last forever. 

Mahmoud: “They’re designed for a specific amount of time, usually 75 years. That’s a typical design service life for bridges.”

Hussam Mahmoud is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University.

He says elements of a bridge — from footings and foundations to beams and girders — are expected to deteriorate over time.

And he says climate change can accelerate that process.

Rising seas and heavy precipitation can cause corrosion. Extreme heat can cause materials to expand beyond what they’re designed for — contributing to buckling or cracking.

Increasing carbon pollution can even alter the pH of concrete, causing it to degrade faster. 

Mahmoud says in most cases, these risks will not cause a bridge to suddenly collapse.

Read more: Climate change could shorten the life span of U.S. bridges