Bad bridges passed up for stimulus cash

[ensho]

http://www.freep.com/article/20090731/NEWS15/90731019/1008/NEWS06/Bad-bridges-passed-up-for-stimulus-cash


Quick, easy projects get green light before crumbling spans


Tens of thousands of unsafe or decaying bridges carrying 100 million drivers a day must wait for repairs because states are spending stimulus money on spans that are already in good shape or on easier projects like repaving roads, an Associated Press analysis shows.

-snip-

States, however, have other plans. Of the 2,476 bridges scheduled to receive stimulus money so far, nearly half have passed inspections with high marks, according to federal data. Those 1,123 sound bridges received such high inspection ratings that they normally would not qualify for federal bridge money, yet they will share in more than $1.2 billion in stimulus money.


The wooden bridge built in 1900 carrying Harlan Springs Road in Berkeley County, W.Va., is one of the nation’s unsafe structures not being repaired. About 2,700 cars cross it every day. But with holes in the wooden deck and corroded railings and missing steel poles, only one car at a time can travel the 300-foot rickety span.

-snip-

A few states, such as Virginia and South Carolina, are targeting their troubled bridges. In all, 1,286 deficient or obsolete bridges are expected to share $2.2 billion in stimulus money for repairs, the AP analysis shows.


But that’s less than 1% of the more than 150,000 bridges nationwide that engineers have labeled deficient or obsolete. Of those, more than 39,000 are considered the worst, rated poor in at least one structural component and eligible to be replaced with federal money.

-snip-

This analysis found that:


• Many states did not make bridge work a priority in stimulus spending. More than half plan work on fewer than two dozen bridges and 18 states plan fewer than 10 projects.


• In 24 states, at least half of the bridges being worked on with stimulus money were not deficient.


• In 15 states, at least two-thirds of the bridges receiving stimulus money are not deficient.


Transportation officials said the stimulus program’s mandates — shovel-ready projects that can be finished in three years and create jobs quickly — made it nearly impossible to focus on bad bridges that weren’t already scheduled for repairs.

-snip-
-----------------------------


damned if they do, damned if they don't moment

or maybe a catch 22

anyway, some more people are getting jobs and some bridges are getting fixed.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. To find out about bridges in your area,

I'd suggest you go to www.bridgehunter.com . They photograph and document the bridges in this county, historic, vanished, and those in use today. When listing bridges in the latter group, they put the last inspection report in the description--includes deck, substructure, and superstructure in the assessment--can be anything from satisfactory to functionally obsolete (which means sound but narrow) to imminent failure. Can be very instructive reading.

[ensho]

2. thanks for link

nt

[stray cat]

3. they wanted shovel ready projects that would create jobs within a year

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Just drove home on one

US 65 from Harrison AR to the MO state line. Straightening and widening the highway has been underway for years, but funds to complete it weren't there until now. Project is almost completed. And in my county, they have been cleaning up the brush along the county roads and making them more passable, something that was vital after our horrendous ice storm that really wrecked the roads and made it hard to get places without 4 wheel drive with high ground clearance. That project has employed a lot of young folks, keeping them in the county, which is important for a poor rural county with a low and aging population.