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ov. Rick Snyder and Michigan Department of Transportation Director Kirk Steudle survey an I-96 overpass at Cedar Street in Lansing.

(Jonathan Oosting | MLive.com)

LANSING, MI -- It's early December, and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Department of Transportation Director Kirk Steudle are wearing hard hats as they look up at a series of temporary beams propping up a heavily trafficked bridge.

"If there's an accident that knocked those out, the bridge up above is susceptible to fall," Steudle says after they step out from under the overpass. "That's why there's concrete barriers up around there. We're about to put up more of those."

The bridge, on I-96 as it crosses over Cedar Street in south Lansing, is one of 1,295 "structurally deficient" bridges in Michigan, according to 2014 data published by the Federal Highway Administration.

That designation means the bridges -- which you can map below -- have a significant defect that may require repair, replacement or a weight restriction. It does not necessarily mean they are unsafe, a determination that would lead to closure.

Another 1,754 Michigan bridges are considered "functionally obsolete" because they do not meet modern design standards. They may have narrow lanes or higher than anticipated traffic volume, for instance.

The deficient bridge at I-96 and Cedar, built in 1963, carries an average of 20,997 vehicles a day, including nearly 4,000 trucks, according to 2007 estimates. As of 2012, its surface deck was in "satisfactory" condition, but its superstructure and substructure were both rated "poor."

Roughly one out of nine Michigan bridges -- or 11.7 percent -- are considered structurally deficient. That's the 16th highest rate in the country, worst ranking amongst the Great Lakes states and above the national average of 10 percent.

But it's not historically awful; Nearly 18 percent of Michigan bridges were deemed structurally deficient in 2004, which was then the 10th highest rate in the country. The number of deficient bridges has dropped incrementally over the past decade.

The Michigan Transportation Management Council, in the 2013 version of its annual report, attributed the recent improvements to progress at the state level and adoption of preventive maintenance strategies by more local agencies.

Snyder has made poor bridge conditions a key talking point in his push to secure a long-term funding increase for Michigan's transportation infrastructure. He'll often hold up chunks of fallen concrete as he makes his public safety pitch.

The governor's December stop at the I-96 overpass came as he was urging lawmakers to approve standalone road funding legislation. Instead, they settled on a compromise plan, sending a proposed constitutional amendment to the statewide ballot.

The May 5 proposal will ask voters to raise the state sales tax from six percent to seven percent but exempt fuel purchases, and approval would trigger a series of other laws. The total package is projected to generate nearly $1.9 billion a year once fully implemented, including more than $1.2 billion for roads and bridges.

Opponents say the state should find a way to fix the roads without such a large tax increase. They call the proposal a "hodge podge" because it would also generate extra money for schools, mass transit and local government revenue sharing.

Use the database below to map structurally deficient bridges in your area. Click on the "details" link for more information on bridge condition, inspections and more.

Note: This is 2014 data, which is the most recent available. It's possible subsequent work has been done on some of these bridges. Locations are approximate and based on GPS coordinates listed in the federal data.

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Editor's note: This post was updated to correct the description of Michigan's national rankings for structurally deficient bridges.

MLive reporter Fritz Klug helped build the interactive database in this story. Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.