There are 95 bridges and 256 culverts in the county's infrastructure inventory and combined they're worth about $70 million, County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens told members of the Public Service Committee on Monday.
That's a conservative estimate, Hens said.
He arrived at the number based on the amount spent on bridge and culvert replacement over the past three years without adjusting for inflation.
Genesee County is one of three counties in the state that are economically responsible for all bridges and culverts on non-state roads, including those in towns and villages. In every other county, towns and villages must maintain and replace old bridges.
It's been that way since 1939 when the board of supervisors passed legislation giving county control of bridges and culverts.
A bridge (defined as more than 20 feet long) can be expected to have a safe, useful life of 50 years. The average bridge in the county was constructed in 1968, Hens said.
To keep up with the replacement cycle of bridges, the county needs to replace two bridges a year but in recent years, with cuts in federal aid, the county has only been able to replace one bridge a year.
Typically, state and federal aid helps pay for bridge and culvert replacement but as that aid is cut back, the county may need to turn to other sources of local revenue, such as sales tax.
