ALBANY State reviewing inspection records as safety precaution BY JILL BRYCE Gazette Reporter
State officials will be checking inspection records of 49 New York bridges designed like the Minnesota bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River on Wednesday. In the Capital Region, the Patroon Island Bridge is the only one with a similar construction. The state Department of Transportation said Thursday it will examine the most recent inspection ratings for each of these 49 bridges as a safety precaution. Gov. Eliot Spitzer requested on Thursday that DOT and other transportation agencies go over these bridges again to make sure they are safe in light of what happened in Minnesota. This will be done within the next 60 days, said DOT spokeswoman Carol Breen. “We are not sending anyone to Minnesota, we are focusing on making sure our bridges are safe,” she said. Bridges in New York are thoroughly inspected every two years as part of the DOT inspection program, which costs between $30 million and $40 million. The DOT also reviews reports on bridge inspections by other agencies, including the Thruway Authority and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. If there are additional concerns or problems, the bridge will be inspected every year and the load capacity would be changed. If something is determined to be very wrong, the DOT would reduce the load capacity or close the bridge, said Breen. As part of an inspection, the joints, structural integrity, paint and lighting structure on a bridge are checked. “We look at every single piece of a bridge to ensure that it is safe as possible for those going over it,” said Breen. The maintenance schedule for DOT is often based on these inspections. If something is wrong with a bridge, it is put on the schedule for repairs. No bridges are under repair now in the Capital Region, according to DOT. For many, the Minnesota bridge collapse brought back memories of the day the New York State Thruway bridge collapsed into the Schoharie Creek in 1987, killing 10 motorists. At the time, many called for a better monitoring plan by the state and said that bridges were not being maintained. DOT said that bridges today are built with backup design systems that will support the structure if a portion of it fails. That marks a change — after the Thruway bridge collapsed in 1987, the National Transportation Safety Board found plans for the construction of the bridge did not include enough safeguards to back the structure’s integrity in the event some parts failed. The NTSB also found that the Thruway bridge fell because piers that held it up were not protected from “scour” erosion caused by water. Large stones that could have minimized the scouring were not maintained around the bridge, according to the NTSB. Gianlucia Cusatis, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been viewing videos of the Minnesota bridge collapsing. He said there’s not enough information yet to determine what caused the collapse. “From what I saw in the video, I can say probably the failure started toward one of the supports and there was a sudden failure.” He said this might indicate it was buckling one of the members in the steel truss. Cusatis said the failure was not on the span of the bridge. The age of the bridge may also be a contributing factor. It’s the kind of bridge that might have corrosion or fatigue cracking, said Cusatis. Cusatis said all bridges and infrastructure need to be closely monitored. Aging is a concern because the structure deteriorates. “We need to keep doing bridge surveying and monitoring,” he said. The loading rating is reviewed for specifi c bridges. The problem, said Cusatis, is that with aging, some of the strength in the structure decreases. The failure of the structure can be very sudden. “In these kinds of failures you don’t have any warning,” he said. There can be sags or vibrations, but this was not the case in Minneapolis. He said that a bridge may collapse due to a lack of redundancy — one steel structure collapses and it triggers a collapse of the entire bridge. After a ramp collapsed on the Dunn Memorial Bridge in July 2005, DOT officials said they were aware of the deteriorated bearings on the bridge more than 20 years ago, but failed to replace them. The consensus among DOT’s engineers and inspectors was that rocker bearings in this condition would not lead to such a failure. As far back as 1985, DOT engineers noted the bearings in question were “out of plumb,” or misaligned. After the problem, DOT put new protocols in place for bridge inspections including “red flags” which mean immediate corrective action is taken. Last year, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s inspector general said that overall bridge inspections in New York that it reviewed were “adequate, generally complete and accurate.” But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found problems with the calculation of load ratings, the posting of maximum weight limits and other related problems on 33 of 43 bridges reviewed. Of these bridges, 14 were in New York and 11 of these had problems. “Ratings did not reflect the degraded conditions of the bridges, maximum weight limits were not posted or were posted incorrectly,” the report reads. Meanwhile, A.J Castelbuono, president and CEO of the Associated General Contractors, NYS Chapter, said Thursday it’s important to remind New York legislators that New York continues to have one of the worst bridge conditions in the nation and very soon “a perfect storm will be looming on the horizon.” “The state source of revenue — the Dedicated Highway & Bridge Trust Fund — will not only be lacking in increased revenues to fix our roads and bridges, but will experience a deficit of $719 million in several years,” he said in a written statement. “We need to begin focusing on the issue to make safe roads and bridges a reality,” he said.
After this bridge collapse every state in the USA is going to be doing inspections on every bridge that has any serious defects and will be repairing them asap.
They will NOW inspect bridges that probably should have been inspected years ago! Don't ya just love it when we are paying people, with our tax dollar to maintain these bridges and roads and yet SOMEHOW..it just doesn't get done. I would just love a job like that! Public employment...it's just the best, huh? My a** would have been fired!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Don't forget that the public servants are protected by the CSEA one of the largest unions in this state. It's very hard to get rid of an employee in that line of work. In the private sector if you don't product or are caught doing something wrong you're just fired on the spot.
Don't forget that the public servants are protected by the CSEA one of the largest unions in this state. It's very hard to get rid of an employee in that line of work. In the private sector if you don't product or are caught doing something wrong you're just fired on the spot.
Then we just need to find things for them to do. They can go around checking each bridge 3 times a day, if that's what it takes for them to work their specified number of hours, as far as I care.
WHAT? BK are you saying that you want a state worker/public empoyee to WORK? That is just too funny!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
N.Y. bridges slated for inspection 49 on list of ‘deck truss’ spans like Minnesota’s BY JILL BRYCE Gazette Reporter
Within the next few days, state officials will begin inspecting the 49 New York state bridges similar to the one that collapsed in Minnesota. Gov. Eliot Spitzer asked that any “deck truss construction” bridges be inspected in the next 30 days. In a deck truss bridge, the majority of the support is beneath the roadway. “There are 13 in Region I that will be inspected over the next few weeks. We are in the process of scheduling them and most will be inspected by DOT crews,” Department of Transportation spokesman Peter Van Keuren said Friday. He did not have a cost estimate for the inspections. On a couple of the region’s larger bridges, including the Patroon Island Bridge, DOT will coordinate with a consultant to do the inspection. Van Keuren said DOT inspects all bridges every two years and older bridges are inspected more frequently. During the inspection process there are telltale signs that indicate problems and the inspectors do a hands-on inspection, looking at the structural members and joints, driving surface and railing. “The inspection process is a comprehensive one and one we take seriously,” said Van Keuren. The DOT says New York is among the most vigilant and aggressive states in the nation when it comes to bridge inspection. The deadly bridge collapse in Minnesota on Wednesday evening has raised concerns about the safety of bridges in the Capital Region and around the state. “I don’t think motorists should be apprehensive about crossing bridges,” said Van Keuren. “New York state has a rigorous bridge inspection program. Every bridge gets inspected every two years. Patroon Island Bridge gets inspected every year because it is such a large bridge and there is so much traffic.” It’s important to realize that during the past couple decades, bridge design has had many advances compared to 40 to 50 years ago, he said. Many safety elements are taken into consideration that weren’t in the past. The bridges that Spitzer ordered inspected include the following: Albany County: The Patroon Island Bridge and the Thruway bridge over the Normanskill. Rensselaer County: Route 7 over the Hoosick River, Route 22 over the Hoosick River and Route 40 over the Hoosick River. Saratoga County: Route 9N over the Hudson River and the Batchellerville Bridge over the Great Sacandaga Lake. Warren County, Route 28N over the Hudson River and Bridge Street over the Hudson River. Columbia County: Route 9G over the Roeliff Jansen Kill. Greene County: Route 23 over the CSX railroad track, the Thruway over the Cauterskill Road and the Thruway over Catskill Creek. Montgomery County: Wagner Hollow Road over the Caroga Creek. None were flagged for inspection in Fulton, Washington, Schenectady and Schoharie counties.
None were flagged for inspection in Fulton, Washington, Schenectady and Schoharie counties.
Good thing, considering they're rebuilding the Mariaville Rd bridge (and have been for 6 months or so) and the fact that they had 1 lane on the eastbound side of the Rt. 5 Bridge between Schenectady and Scotia closed yesterday because some of the concrete was coming out. It was especially nice sitting at Jumpin' Jacks listening to all the horns of drivers and the screeching of brakes considering all they had up was cones and no actual signs telling you the lane was closing.
Perhaps we should simply trade in these aging bridges for rotaries as there appears to be a sale on rotaries judging from the number being constructed in the Capital District.
Perhaps we should simply trade in these aging bridges for rotaries as there appears to be a sale on rotaries judging from the number being constructed in the Capital District.
Well, at least we know that DOT has some bucks! They are pushing these roundabouts like a drug dealer pushes cocaine. We, in NYS, don't need new roundabouts. We need tax relief!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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