Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. transportation industry officials warned of a looming catastrophe involving bridges and roads in disrepair a week before an interstate highway span fell in Minneapolis.

Associated General Contractors Chief Executive Officer Stephen Sandherr spoke of a ``safety crisis'' last week as his Washington-based association and other trade groups called for more transportation infrastructure funding.

The U.S. is nearing the end of a spending plan to provide $285 billion for transportation over six years. When Congress passed the bill in 2005, the Transportation Department estimated the country needed to spend $375 billion on roads, bridges and transit. Fixing all U.S. bridge deficiencies would cost $9.4 billion a year for 20 years, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

``We have all these systems crying out for attention, and I am not sure we have the political will or courage at this point to realize what it is going to take in terms of investments and resources to solve these problems,'' said Casey Dinges, managing director of external affairs for the American Society of Civil Engineers.

More money is not the only answer, said Keith Ashdown, chief investigator for Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington- based group advocating for responsible government spending. Ashdown coined the term ``bridge to nowhere'' to describe a quarter-mile, $233 million span planned to replace ferry service between Ketchikan, Alaska, and Gravina Island, places with a combined population of fewer than 8,000 people.

Bridge to Nowhere

``Stop funding bridges to nowhere. Put the money in to follow a fix-it-first policy,'' Ashdown said. ``Political projects lessen our ability to prioritize.''

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Transportation and Infrastructure Director Janet Kavinoky said the bridge collapse and last month's steampipe explosion in Manhattan bring needed attention to decaying infrastructure.

``Absolutely, there's a silver lining,'' she said. ``But it's only a silver lining if this is a sustained commitment to addressing the needs of the physical infrastructure.''

Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who resigned in 2006, said in an interview it will be up to the federal government to increase funding and to state governments to ensure inspections are carried out.

``States really are the ones who have to maintain this stuff,'' Mineta said. ``Feds become the funding source.''

Inspector General

A 2006 federal Inspector General's report based on 2003 data found that Minnesota was one of the states with the lowest number of bridges deemed ``structurally deficient'' by inspectors. Rhode Island had the highest percentage, followed by Michigan and Pennsylvania.

The federal government wrote bridge inspection requirements in 1968 following the 1967 bridge collapse of the Silver Bridge connecting Ohio and West Virginia that killed 46 people. Stress corrosion caused that collapse.

The Federal Highway Administration on July 27 announced $5.3 million, less than 6 percent of the annual amount the civil engineers association suggests, for bridge projects in 25 states. The agency said the money should speed bridge construction projects, making them safer. None are in Minnesota.

To contact the reporters on this story: Angela Greiling Keane in Washington at agreilingkea@bloomberg.netAdam L. Cataldo in New York at at acataldo@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 3, 2007 17:59 EDT