Structurally deficient highway bridges. Refer to Exercise 1.29. The NBI data were analyzed and the results made available at the FHWA Web site (www. fhwa. dot. gov). Using the FHWA inspection ratings, each of the 608,272 highway bridges in the United States was categorized as structurally deficient, functionally obsolete, or safe. About 13.5% of the bridges were found to be structurally defi- cent, while 3.5% were functionally obsolete. a. What is the variable of interest to the researchers? b. Is the variable of part a quantitative or qualitative? c. Is the data set analyzed a population or a sample? Explain. d. How did the NBI obtain the data for the study?