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Nearly a quarter of the nation's roughly 600,000 major bridges carry more traffic than they were designed to bear, according to reports based on federal government data.

Experts said Thursday that the problem stems from a lack of money and leadership.

Federal Highway Administration data from 2006 shows that 24.5 percent of the nation's bridges longer than 20 feet were categorized as "structurally deficient" or "functionally obsolete" (data from Utah and New Mexico was from 2005).

"Our bridges are not in very good condition in this country," said Ruth Stidger, editor in chief of the trade publication Better Roads, which compiled the data. See a list of bridges that the Transportation Department wants inspected (pdf)

Some states are worse than others. Arizona and Rhode Island have a similar number of structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridges -- 384 and 405 respectively. In Arizona, however, that's 5 percent of its total bridges, while in Rhode Island, it's more than half. See how many problem bridges are in your state Read full article »

CNN's Kristi Keck contributed to this report.

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