The results of a recent bridge inventory analysis are sobering.

The 2014 U.S. Department of Transportation National Bridge Inventory database found, in part, that cars, trucks and school buses cross Pennsylvania's 5,050 structurally compromised bridges 16.1 million times every day.The review by Dr. Alison Premo Black, chief economist, American Road & Transportation Builders Association, should serve as a wake-up call.Some of the potentially dangerous bridges are located in our area.In some cases, motorists don't even know when they're passing over a bridge.Such is the case for the Wabash Creek bridge on West Broad Street in Tamaqua, scheduled for repairs in 2017.The bridge doesn't seem to be a bridge in the conventional sense.But it is, even if it's not something you can actually see.The bridge is a section of Route 209 that passes through the unit block of the business district.In other words, when you're driving on West Broad Street and passing the area of Wells Fargo Bank, you're actually driving over the Wabash Creek bridge.The waterway is hidden.It's encased in an 1840s-era stone arch tunnel buried deep below.The tunnel snakes through downtown and crosses beneath Broad Street in a few locations. But you can't see it from above.The section beneath the unit block of West Broad Street needs attention, according to engineers.Repairs are important.Every day, school buses carrying our most precious cargo use the bridge, part of a federal highway system.Heavy trucks rumble by, adding more pressure and weight to a tunnel built in an era when man traveled by horse or stagecoach.Thankfully, repairs are scheduled, and even though the improvements temporarily will alter the flow of traffic, the inconvenience will be worth it.When we pass over a bridge deemed structurally deficient, we're playing a game of Russian roulette.We owe it to ourselves and our children to make travel safe.And we can't repair a bridge unless we know there's a problem.For that reason, the bridge inventory is a valuable resource, and tax money used to fix our deficient bridges is money well-spent.By DONALD R. SERFASSdserfass@tnonline.com