W.Va. bridges inspected less often than most other states, data show

W.Va. bridges inspected less often than most other states, data show  

Publication: The Sunday Gazette-Mail
Release Date: 02/03/08
Contact: Tara Tuckwiller

Bridges in West Virginia are more likely than those in almost any other state to go longer than two years without an inspection, federal data show.

The vast majority of those had federal permission to be inspected only every four years.

Federal law ordinarily requires states to inspect bridges every 24 months. But in 1988, a provision was added that allows states to seek permission to inspect certain bridges every 48 months. Most states don't use the provision, and highway officials in some states say it's unsafe, according to a series published last week by MSNBC investigative reporter Bill Dedman, who analyzed bridge inspection data submitted by the states to the National Bridge Inventory through 2006.

"I think it's safe," West Virginia state highway engineer Marvin Murphy said of the 48-month schedule.

Usually, Murphy said, such bridges are new, or carry little traffic, and have carried their loads with no problems in the past.

West Virginia is more likely to take advantage of the 48-month provision than almost any other state, according to the data. About one in four of the West Virginia bridges in MSNBC.com's analysis - 1,778 of them, Murphy said - are on such an extended inspection schedule. Only New Mexico, Illinois and Arizona use the provision more. However, Arizona puts only culverts on the 48-month schedule, Dedman reported.

A Gazette-Mail analysis of the data shows that among West Virginia bridges listed as being on a 48-month inspection schedule:

·  Most - 57 percent - were built in the 1990s or later.

There are some older bridges; 112 of the bridges on a 48-month schedule are more than 40 years old. The oldest West Virginia bridge on the four-year plan is a 1926 one-lane bridge that carries an estimated 50 vehicles a day on Calhoun County Route 1/1 over Straight Creek. It is listed as being neither "structurally deficient" nor "functionally obsolete."

·  Almost half carry 200 or fewer cars per day.

Some carry more; 121 bridges that carry an estimated 5,000 vehicles per day or more are on the 48-month schedule. That includes 37 bridges on Interstate 64, I-77 and I-79, some of which carry between 10,000 and 15,000 vehicles per day in Kanawha, Wood, Jackson and Clay counties.

·  About 43 percent are less than 50 feet long.

The longest bridges on the 48-month inspection schedule are a 955-foot bridge that carries an estimated 1,200 vehicles per day on Cabell County Route 46 over Fourpole Creek near Huntington, and a 535-foot bridge that carries an estimated 5,500 vehicles per day on U.S. 60 over the Greenbrier River near Caldwell.

·  All score at least 7 on an inspection scale of 0 to 9, and are rated "better than present minimum criteria."

·  None are listed as "structurally deficient." A structurally deficient bridge has major deterioration, cracks or other flaws that reduces its ability to support vehicles. That doesn't mean the bridge is unsafe, but it may have a posted weight limit. West Virginia has 1,041 such bridges, according to the data.

·  Nineteen are listed as "functionally obsolete." A functionally obsolete bridge may not be wide or high enough for the roads leading onto them or the traffic it is expected to carry. Again, that doesn't mean the bridge is unsafe. West Virginia has 1,504 such bridges, according to the data.

·  None are listed as "fracture-critical." A fracture-critical bridge may have no problems whatsoever, but its design includes at least one critical tension member whose failure would be expected to result in the collapse of the bridge, according to the Federal Highway Administration's definition. Minnesota's Interstate 35-W bridge that collapsed in August was listed as both structurally deficient and fracture-critical.

West Virginia has 536 fracture-critical bridges, according to the data. All are listed as being scheduled for inspection at least every 24 months, some as often as every six months.

Eleven of these fracture-critical bridges were overdue for inspection as of the December 2006 data reported in April 2007. About half were two or three months overdue. One was almost two years overdue, and two were almost three years overdue - in other words, the data showed no inspection report for almost five years. All three are Interstate 64 bridges in Cabell County, carrying between 19,500 and 20,000 vehicles a day.

Those have all now been inspected, Murphy said. "Most of those, the inspections were complete, but the reports were not brought in," he said.

Some states re-inspected all of their fracture-critical bridges after the Minnesota bridge collapse. West Virginia is now reviewing inspection reports for all of its fracture-critical bridges, Murphy said.

"If we see anything of concern after reviewing the report, we'll ask for another inspection to be done on that bridge," he said.

All 27 overdue bridges now inspected, DOH says

Twelve percent of West Virginia's bridges - 844 bridges in all - didn't get an inspection within the 24 months that ended December 2006, according to the MSNBC.com analysis.

Most of those were on the 48-month plan.

When you look at each bridge's personal inspection schedule, 27 West Virginia bridges - 0.4 percent of all bridges in the state - were actually late for their inspection, the MSNBC analysis shows.

That agrees with state highways figures for that year, Murphy said. He said 100 percent of West Virginia's bridges are now up-to-date on their inspections.

After the Minnesota bridge collapse, the Gazette - like media outlets across the country - published information about the condition of state bridges. Some media outlets used data that were a year old, because that's how long it usually takes the federal government to release the information. The Gazette obtained newer data through the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, which in turn had obtained the data from the federal government in February 2007.

The latest data obtained by MSNBC.com were reported by states by April 2007, which ensured that the states had had the maximum amount of time allowed by law to get their 2006 inspection reports to the federal government.

The Federal Highway Administration has made the entire text data file available on its Web site, www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/nbi/ascii.cfm.

MSNBC.com has also made more user-friendly, state-by-state data files available at http://powerreporting.com/files/msnbc.

"We wanted to let the public, including journalists, look up the information on every bridge," reporter Bill Dedman said.

"Most states do not provide this information to the public on the state Web sites."

MSNBC.com also developed an interactive "Bridge Tracker" that allows users to check the condition and inspection dates of bridges in their area (bridges that carry fewer than 10,000 vehicles per day or for which latitude and longitude were not available are not on the map). Visit http://bridges.msnbc.com.

To contact staff writer Tara Tuckwiller, use e-mail or call 348-5189.