SPRINGFIELD - In the Stewardson-Strasburg School District near Effingham, the strength of area bridges is a worry for Bob Long.

In the seven years he has been the district's transportation coordinator and bus mechanic, Long has watched as more and more bridges in the area have been deemed unfit to bear the weight of a school bus loaded with students.

Without access to those bridges, Long says he must redraw bus routes, which creates lengthier rides for students, more gas being used and more wear and tear on the buses.

"The lowered weight limits and the (bridge) closings affect us on a daily basis," he said. "There are four bridges that we have to deal with regularly. One bridge has been out for probably four or five years. Another bridge used to be a 12-ton (capacity), and they knocked it down to 3 tons. Some of our buses weigh more than 9 tons."

Long's bus routes cut through farmland dotted with houses set acres apart and connected by a handful of county and state bridges. And, similar to other bridges across the state, many of them are falling into disrepair because of a lack of funding.

"It's getting worse," Long said.

With the third most bridges in the country and a state budget deficit among the nation's worst, the prospects for maintaining and replacing Illinois' 26,548 aging bridges are uncertain.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's proposed 2008-13 Highway Improvement Plan calls for $1.8 billion to address the state's bridge needs. But, given the cost of bridge construction and repair, and that 4,715 of the state's bridges have been deemed deficient, the funds won't be enough to secure all of the state's bridges.

Illinois Department of Transportation officials said they were unable to determine the cost of repairing all of the bridges.

All told, the governor's plan for spending in the next fiscal year calls for a total of $1.75 billion on Illinois roads and bridges, or about $100 million less than last year. The funding cutbacks are more drastic when compared to 2002, when the state spent $4.42 billion, or 2003, when $3.12 billion was allotted.

Gary Kowalski, an engineer and bridge expert for the Department of Transportation, said the state's mounting problem is about to get worse.

Kowalski said a bridge building boom in the 1960s used deck beam technology, which often consists of a slab of reinforced concrete and metal. Many of these bridges, Kowalski said, are in bad shape, with the result being that an entire generation of the state's bridges deteriorating simultaneously.

"There are about 600 of these bridges in the state system, and I bet more than half of them are in trouble," he said. "But (deck beam bridges) are more common on the local level. There are probably about 4,000 to 5,000 of them in Illinois. We've actually had about three or four collapse in the past two or three years."

"The good news," Kowalski said, "is that the state's deck beam bridges are subject to more wear and tear because they accommodate more traffic, and the state uses a heavy salt brine most towns don't use, which causes quicker deterioration." So local bridges should hold up longer.

Kowalski said repair costs for deck beam bridges vary, but $100,000 is an appropriate number to begin considering repairs for any of the bridges.

In Shelby County, engineer Alan Spesard says the use of timber piling technology for bridge supports will soon force the county to make tough decisions about the fate of its bridges.

As the name implies, timber piling uses wood to provide a foundation for the bridge.

Spesard said, like deck beam technology, timber piling was used in bridges across the state during the highway building booms of the 1960s and into the 1970s. Again, the state has a generation of bridges deteriorating en masse.

"These type of bridges were all constructed around the same time, and now they are all basically rotting at the same time," Spesard said. "The problem with timber is, once it starts to rot, it rots quickly, whereas concrete and steel takes years. Timber is an issue that is going to be a big deal in the next few years. Deterioration is getting much worse; it's accelerating."

In recognition of the problem in his area, state Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion, proposed a $30 million spending bill to repair dilapidated bridges across the state.

"Is it the whole solution? No," Flider said. "It's a step in the right direction."

Flider's legislation has won approval in the House and now awaits action in the Senate.

Blackwell Thomas can be reached at blackwell.thomas@lee.net or 789.0865.