Rules for building bridges on federal dams are about to disappear

The US Federal Highway Administration wants to get rid of a 50-year-old rule about building bridges on federal dams. This means that federal agencies will no longer have specific guidelines for how to design and build these bridges.

Since 1974, there have been specific rules for how to build bridges on federal dams. These rules covered things like design standards and safety. Removing them means that each project will likely be handled on a case-by-case basis, without a single, consistent standard across all federal agencies. This could speed up some projects but also introduce more variability in design and safety oversight.