Akron area motorists are traveling over a structurally deficient bridge every 12 seconds, a national transportation group said Wednesday.Transportation for America, a coalition of nonprofit groups in Washington, D.C., released a critical report on the state of bridges in the largest U.S. metropolitan areas and urged the federal government to devote more money to maintain its infrastructure.The report, The Fix We’re In For: The State of Our Nation’s Busiest Bridges, ranked Akron the 16th worst among 50 communities with populations between 500,000 and 1 million. The Akron metro area encompasses Summit and Portage counties.Using data from the Federal Highway Administration, the group identified 104 deficient bridges in the area — or about 12.7 percent of all bridges. It also estimated how often motorists are driving over those bridges.“We have a big backlog in maintenance needs that’s only going to grow,” said David Goldberg, spokesman for Transportation for America.The group focused on large metro areas because that’s where the busiest, and most expensive to repair, spans are located.Nationwide, there are 18,239 deficient bridges in the 102 metro areas studied.“As an increasing number of our bridges reach — and pass — their original design life spans, repairing the nation’s biggest and busiest bridges will require a national strategy that is not possible under a program where money is distributed to states by formula with little accountability,” the report said.The nation spent $5.2 billion on bridges in 2009, while there was an estimated $70.9 billion backlog of repairs, it said.The Ohio Department of Transportation oversees 357 bridges in Summit County and 20 of those are considered structurally deficient, agency spokesman Justin Chesnic said.“Just because a bridge is structurally deficient definitely doesn’t mean it’s not safe,” he added. “A lot of times the bridges are in really good shape but there’s only one area that drops the bridge rating down.“Every single one of those bridges are safe to drive on. If there were a bridge that was unsafe, we’d close it in a heartbeat.”Lack of fundsThe Summit County Engineer’s Office oversees 315 bridges. The majority of the 18 county-maintained spans cited as deficient in the Transportation for America report either have already been repaired or repairs are being designed.Engineer Al Brubaker said he agreed with the report’s conclusion that there isn’t enough federal money for bridge maintenance.The country needs to come to grips with the problem of not having enough money to pay for new transportation projects and maintenance efforts, said Jason Segedy, director of the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study.Federal leaders should consider putting more money into maintenance, he said.“It’s certainly not a surprise that there are a lot of deficient bridges out there,” he said.Tulsa, Okla., was ranked the worst, based on percentage, among metro areas with populations between 500,000 and 1 million. Nearly 28 percent of the bridges there — or 783 — were rated as deficient.Pittsburgh was the worst overall, with 30 percent of its bridges deficient.The Youngstown-Warren-Boardman area was the worst in Ohio, with 18.4 percent of its bridges deficient. The other Ohio areas that were rated were Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor (11.4 percent); Columbus (11.1 percent); Dayton (11 percent); Toledo (10.9 percent); and Cincinnati-Middletown (7 percent).To read the report, go to http://t4america.org.Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.