25 days ago
SACRAMENTO, CA - Many experts claim the accident that sparked the shutdown of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge proves what experts have been saying for years -- U.S. bridges need more inspections and maintenance.
"The Bay Bridge is another wake-up call," said Andrew Herrmann of the American Society of Civil Engineers. "The condition of our bridges is serious at this point."
Herrmann pointed to the Interstate 35 bridge that fell in Minnesota during rush hour traffic in 2007. The collapse claimed 13 lives. The federal government blamed the incident on a design flaw on the 40-year-old span.
Records show the average U.S. bridge is 43 years old. Most were designed to last 50 years. "That life can go beyond 50 years," Hermann said, "But we have to spend the money. We have to make the investment so they can last longer."
Work crews are replacing an aging structure on Bradshaw Road near Calvine Road in Sacramento County.
County transportation civil engineer Mike Meschi said, "We demolished the old bridge that was built in 1930 and we're replacing it with a reinforced concrete bridge. Caltrans provided us with an inspection report and we acted on that recommendation."
Federal government officials said one in four bridges has a structurally deficient rating. Meschi pointed out that's scarier than it sounds. "A bridge can be classified as structurally deficient due to flooding problems," he said. "It could be declared obsolete because of peeling paint."
But Meschi added if taxpayers want more bridge inspections and repairs, they'll have to dig into their pockets to pay. "The more money in the system to inspect the bridges, the better it is," he said.
by Karen Massie, kmassie@news10.net
News10/KXTV
