By Bryan Corbin, Evansville Courier & Press
INDIANAPOLIS - Results aren't back yet on 13 bridges around the state, including five in Southwestern Indiana, inspected after the Minneapolis bridge collapse.
Those bridges - including two in Vanderburgh County and one each in Gibson, Posey and Spencer counties - bear some similarities to the I-35W bridge in their steel-truss construction. No closures were warranted after the initial inspections, the Indiana Department of Transportation said.
INDOT's scrutiny of its bridges comes as the state Senate's point man on transportation, Sen. Thomas Wyss, said Indiana is better-positioned than other states to make needed infrastructure improvements, such as bridge repairs, thanks to the infusion of cash from the lease of the northern Indiana toll road.
Andy Dietrick of INDOT said that between Aug. 3 and 7, 13 state-owned bridges were inspected for cracks, corrosion or deterioration. Inspectors have the authority to order an immediate closure of a bridge, but none warranted that, he said. The 13 ordered inspected by Gov. Mitch Daniels after the Aug. 1 Minneapolis collapse included five in Southwestern Indiana.
Inspectors did walk-around with binoculars and took photographs, looking for any signs of damage - including underwater inspections of river bridges, Dietrick said.
They still are compiling and analyzing data. "Then we will make a thorough assessment of what the findings are to determine if any additional action is needed on any of the bridges," Dietrick said.
If a problem is discovered, INDOT could restrict vehicle weights on a particular bridge or halt traffic there altogether until the problem is fixed.
On Friday, INDOT ordered closure of a bridge on Indiana 212 in Michigan City, Ind., on safety grounds. It is not one of the 13 steel-truss bridges with characteristics similar to the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed Aug. 1, killing nine and injuring more than 100. Nonetheless, the bridge "will be closed until it is deemed safe and appropriate," Dietrick said.
INDOT is in charge of approximately 5,700 bridges statewide: those on state roads, U.S. highways and interstates. Counties and municipal governments maintain about 12,600 others.
An analysis of Federal Highway Administration figures by The Associated Press 2,066 bridges statewide are classified as "structurally deficient," in need of maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement.
Dietrick said that terminology does not mean, however, that a bridge is unsafe. "We would never let traffic go on a bridge (considered) unsafe by inspectors," he said.
Nationwide, the Minneapolis collapse has prompted states to take a hard look at aging infrastructure when federal highway trust-fund dollars are dwindling.
Wyss on Tuesday noted Indiana has $940 million available through July 2008 to invest in roads and bridges through the Major Moves program. That was Daniels' controversial plan to privatize the northern Indiana toll road to a foreign consortium, and use the $3.85 billion in lease proceeds to pay for infrastructure improvements around the state over 10 years.
The $940 million installment includes a combination of state and federal gasoline tax money, the lease payment itself and interest earned on it. A total $150 million has been made available to counties, cities and towns to fund their own projects, such as bridge repair or replacement, Dietrick said.
"I think the citizens should have a comfort factor," Wyss said of the funding generated from the toll-road operator's lease payment.
Vanderburgh County government received $709,995 in the first distribution, while Evansville city government got $834,152 and the town of Darmstadt received $9,008, INDOT records said.
The Major Moves project best-known locally is the Evansville-to-Indianapolis extension of Interstate 69. Groundbreaking on the first $119 million leg of the long-delayed interstate project is scheduled for summer 2008.