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The cost of fixing an aging baby-boomer generation of bridges across Pennsylvania would top $7.3 billion, according to a state report.

Like the aging human baby boomers, whose medical needs have become a national concern, the largest chunk of the state's 22,000 bridges — many found in the Pittsburgh region — were built 25 to 50 years ago and now are in need of repair or replacement.

"Yes, we do have a lot of bridges, and yes, they are getting older," said state Rep. John Pippy, a Moon Township Republican and secretary of the House Transportation Committee. "It's an issue the next governor and Legislature will have to come up with a remedy for."

About 40 percent of the bridges statewide are classified as deficient, meaning a bridge inspector has found a physical problem with a span, according to a recent state Legislative Budget and Finance Committee report. That's the highest percentage in the nation.

"You've got a lot of them out there coming of age," said Ray McCormick, a senior bridge engineer for the Federal Highway Administration. "It doesn't mean they're falling down or anything. They're getting older, and they're going to need some maintenance."

In the Pittsburgh area, bridges are crucial links crossing the rivers, streams and ravines that define the southwestern Pennsylvania region. Within the city's borders alone, 17 major bridges cross the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers.

"What Cooperstown is to baseball, what Canton is to football and what Toronto is to hockey — that's what Pittsburgh is to the bridge industry," said Dick Skrinjar, spokesman for the PennDOT district based in Allegheny County. "This is the city of bridges, and it's the most challenging part of civil engineering."

There are 590,000 bridges in the United States that were built, on average, 40 years ago, McCormick said. About 55,000 of them are on the interstate system, which carries the most traffic.

With so many in Pennsylvania, it's not feasible to tackle all of the ailing bridges at the same time, said Eric Bugaile, executive director of the state House Transportation Committee. There's not enough money, not enough workers, and the traffic detours would be nightmares for motorists. So PennDOT uses a formula that Bugaile calls a "triage system."

"Because of the triage system we're using, the worst of the worst are going to get done first," he said.

Pennsylvania tends to about 200 bridges a year, budgeting about $300 million annually — a higher amount than in the past. In the past six years, PennDOT spent about $1.4 billion on bridge work, according to the report.

Starting later this summer, Allegheny County will renovate the 16th Street Bridge, crossing from the North Side into the Strip District. Then PennDOT, which now is renovating the Fort Pitt Bridge, will do the same with the 31st Street Bridge.

Bridge work in Pennsylvania is primarily paid through a bridge program enacted in 1982. The Legislature approves amendments to the Bridge Bill to pay for work, which so far includes more than 9,300 bridge projects totaling $8.7 billion.

Pippy will sponsor the next bridge bill amendment, which he said should be considered in the fall. Proposed bridge work also must be approved by PennDOT to receive money.

"Pittsburgh benefits immensely from the bridge bills," Bugaile said. "It can get 80 to 95 percent of a project paid, depending on whether there is federal participation."

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