Are Idaho Bridges Dangerously Old?

I remember walking by the Perrine Bridge with some friends a couple weeks ago, and hearing some odd creaking noises while traffic passed over. We made a couple comments about how it was a little disturbing to think about, but I really thought no more about it, until reading this.

Nineteen percent of Idaho’s bridges are deficient, according to the trade journal roadsbridges.com. Eight percent of the state’s bridges were rated as structurally deficient, while 11 percent were functionally obsolete.

By 2017 more than half of all bridges in Idaho will be 50 years or older, including the Perrine Bridge. Many were not engineered to last much longer.

All this summer, so much road construction was started (and half of it was finished), but now I can't help but wonder if it might be wiser for Twin Falls to put some more focus on the Perrine Bridge, and a little less on Washington and Blue Lakes.