Following the pattern so sadly prevalent in all too many jurisdictions, the tragedy in Minneapolis causes public leadership to do the job they have been expected to do all along, ensure our infrastructure is safe.
Immediate bridge inspections in California
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg and Chris Bowman - Bee Staff Writers
Published 12:00 am PDT Friday, August 3, 2007
Responding to a national alert, Caltrans plans to immediately inspect 69 steel-deck truss bridges statewide that are similar in design to the span that collapsed into the Mississippi River on Wednesday.
The inspections, which were to start either late Thursday or sometime today, will include bridges that cross the Cosumnes, Feather, American and Yuba rivers, state Transportation Department spokeswoman Shelly Chernicki said.
The scrutiny comes as attention from Washington to Sacramento zeroed in on tens of thousands of "structurally deficient" bridges that have long languished on lists of structures needing repair or replacement.
In a strategic plan laid out in 1998, the Federal Highway Administration set a 10-year goal of shoring up the nation's nearly 600,000 federally funded bridges so that fewer than 20 percent would be classified as deficient.
But Wednesday's stunning rush-hour collapse of the interstate bridge in Minneapolis served as a reminder that the vision fell short: More than one in four of those bridges are still rated "structurally deficient" or "functionally obsolete."
About 3,000 California bridges carried the deficient label in 2006 and nearly 4,000 more were tagged obsolete, according to the highway administration's Web site.
"That does not mean the bridge is in danger of falling down," Caltrans Director Will Kempton said in a Thursday afternoon press conference. On roads overseen by Caltrans, the bulk of the deficient bridges have minor problems with paving, paint, culverts or other issues, he said.
Kempton estimated perhaps 5 percent have larger issues, and he stressed that even those are not considered dangerous or the bridges involved already would be closed for repairs.
