More than one in 10 West Virginia bridges are “structurally deficient,” according to federal bridge data — the same classification as a Minneapolis bridge that collapsed and killed at least four people Wednesday.
Those ratings “don’t necessarily mean it’s [the bridge is] unsafe,” said John Walker, a deputy state highway engineer. But it does mean those bridges need to be fixed or replaced, and the state bridge budget falls short — far short, according to a computer-assisted analysis of U.S. Department of Transportation data.
West Virginia would need to spend an estimated $2.36 billion to fix all of its bridges. But Walker said the department has just a fraction of that — about $100 million — to spend on all bridge projects. New bridges gobble a big chunk of the budget.
“I think it’s something the public needs to be aware of,” Walker said of West Virginia’s bridge deficiencies. “For me, the concern is we’re not providing the funding to keep up with the need.”
A former manager of state bridge inspections tried to sound an alarm in 1999. Shortly after his retirement, structural engineer Robert C. Smith warned that skimping on maintenance was causing important West Virginia bridges to deteriorate at an “alarming rate.”
In a letter to legislators, Smith wrote that “there is a significant chance of another bridge disaster such as the collapse of the Silver Bridge.” That bridge, over the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, killed 46 people when it fell in 1967.
In 2003, a state bridge inspector tried unsuccessfully to convince legislators not to legalize the then-illegally heavy loads coal trucks were hauling. Alvin Messinger testified the heavier loads would further weaken the state’s bridges.
On Thursday, Messinger said, “If we don’t change course, and change the way we maintain these existing bridges, it’s just a matter of time before something happens here.”
‘We’re not going to let people drive across bridges that are unsafe’
According to an analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Transportation:
Nearly one in three West Virginia bridges were either “structurally deficient” or “functionally obsolete” at the end of 2006. A structurally deficient bridge has major deterioration, cracks, or other flaws that reduce its ability to support vehicles. A functionally obsolete bridge is not wide or high enough for the roads leading onto it or the traffic it is expected to carry.
More than half of West Virginia’s 8,428 bridges are listed as needing some rehabilitation. More than one in four may need to be replaced.
The situation has improved over the past six years. Since late 2000, the number of West Virginia bridges listed as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete has dropped by about 7 percent.
“The list is long. The budget’s little,” Walker said. “We try to do the most critical priorities first.”
In the federal data, each bridge has a “sufficiency rating.” The Minneapolis bridge’s rating was 50 out of 100. West Virginia has 2,240 bridges that rate 50 or below.
That doesn’t mean the bridge is about to collapse. But it does become a budget priority, Walker said. “That means we are programming them or have already programmed them for rehabilitation projects or replacement,” he said. “We don’t take any chances with safety in that regard.”
West Virginia has 55 bridge inspectors who inspect each bridge every two years, he said.
If the inspector finds the bridge structurally insufficient, the highway department might put up a “weight limit” sign on the bridge or a “trucks and buses cross one at a time” sign.
“We have to post bridges nearly every week with load ratings on them,” Walker said.
“We don’t have enough money to take care of all the small needs,” he said. “We definitely take care of the large ones without any problem.
“For example, I’d like to be able to paint a lot more bridges on a 20- to 25-year cycle. You can probably drive around and see a lot of bridges that need to be painted. Just because they’re not painted doesn’t mean it’s not safe.
“But it does help the life of the bridge. If you have a house, you know that if you paint the trim, you don’t get wood rot.”
In the Eastern Panhandle on Wednesday, people were calling the Division of Highways office, “scared to death to drive across certain bridges,” said Gary Klavuhn, the state’s bridge engineer for that district.
He reassured them: “We’re not going to let people drive across bridges that are unsafe.”
Klavuhn was one of a slew of inspectors hired nationwide after the Silver Bridge collapse prompted Congress to start bridge safety programs. He said bridge conditions in West Virginia have improved remarkably since then. But “the emphasis gets stale 40 years after the Silver Bridge.” The Minneapolis collapse will force lawmakers to focus on the needs of America’s bridges, he said.
How much money for bridges?
The Minnesota bridge collapse “was a clear call for a serious reassessment of our transportation infrastructure,” Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., and vice chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said Thursday.
Right now, federal and state governments aren’t even spending enough on highway and bridge projects to maintain current conditions, according to an April 2007 report by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association.
A major overhaul of federal highway funding legislation, signed by President Bush in August 2005, set aside $21.6 billion between 2005 and 2009 for the federal government’s highway bridge program, according to the Department of Transportation.
The American Society of Civil Engineers said Thursday it will cost $9.4 billion a year for 20 years to eliminate all bridge deficiencies — more than twice the amount set aside by the 2005 law signed by Bush.
In West Virginia, the Manchin administration’s most recent “six-year plan” for highways includes $389 million less for fixing and replacing bridges than the previous plan published two years ago. The most recent plan, published in January 2007, said the highway department plans to spend $609 million to fix or replace 122 bridges between 2007 and 2012.
In the 2005 version, the state planned to spend nearly $998 million to fix or replace 340 bridges between 2006 and 2011. The plan was amended, Walker said. “We have to adjust based upon revenues,” he said.