Peggy Vlerebome, Courier Staff Writer
Load limits are not needed on the Madison-Milton bridge, the Kentucky commissioner of highways said in a letter faxed Friday to Madison Mayor Al Huntington.
Huntington had asked for load limits and a ban on 18-wheelers on the aged bridge in a letter a month ago to Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Bill Nighbert. Such steps would make the bridge last longer, since it appears unlikely Kentucky will be able to afford to replace it anytime soon.
"Based upon our latest in-depth inspection of this bridge, changes to the load capacity of the bridge are not warranted," Kentucky Commissioner of Highways Marc D. Williams wrote in Kentucky's response to Huntington's letter.
"A consultant is currently conducting a follow-up inspection to the bridge and if further changes are required for the load capacity of the bridge the Cabinet will take immediate steps to implement these changes," Williams wrote.
Huntington was not happy about the letter.
"I'm not buying this," Huntington said. "I've made the position perfectly clear about the importance of this bridge for our economic viability, and certainly of utmost importance, the safety of the people that use this bridge. The fact remains it is 78 years old. It was not designed to take the loads it takes today. It is functionally obsolete and structurally deficient. It's not like it's sick and all of a sudden it is going to be inspected and be well."
Huntington referred to a recent Madison Courier story that quoted a 2002 inspection report by consultants hired by Kentucky that said the bridge is functionally obsolete and structurally deficient, and then to a sentence in Kentucky's six-year highway plan. The sentence reads: "Many times, these structural problems are handled by posting the bridge at a specific maximum loading to prolong the life of the structure."
Andrea Clifford, a public information specialist in the Kentucky highway district office in Louisville, said the "latest in-depth inspection" referred to in the letter was in July 2006, and was done by inspectors hired by Kentucky. A consultant also is doing the follow-up inspection mentioned in the letter. The consultant "will be doing it very soon, and may have already started." That inspection is different from the annual inspection that Kentucky and Indiana do jointly, which she said will be conducted Sept. 20.
Williams' letter also addressed a part of Huntington's letter in which he wrote that some of the trucks using the bridge are overweight.
Williams responded that the Transportation Cabinet will "continue to work with Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement on the implementation and enforcement issues regarding commercial vehicles on this bridge," and suggested Madison do the same. "We would also encourage the City of Madison to work with Indiana officials to enforce legal truck weights in Indiana," Williams wrote.
Huntington has said that overweight trucks are not the only issue because he is certain that trucks of legal weight probably are far heavier than the bridge engineers could have envisioned in the late 1920s.
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