Asked if he
was on top of Delaware's 1,437 bridges, Delaware's bridge management
engineer, Doug Finney, answered: "Sure," even as he stood atop a
badly deteriorating bridge on rural Snuff Mill Road near
Centreville.
Compared with every other state in the Northeast - and just about
every other state in the union - Delaware's record on keeping
bridges up to snuff is unrivaled.
About 5 percent, or 74, of the state's bridges are "structurally
deficient" - there is visible deterioration to the deck or
substructure - and about another 12 percent, or 171, are
"functionally obsolete" - built before modern engineering and design
standards. Ten years ago, 140 bridges in the state were structurally
deficient.
According to a new Federal Highway Administration report,
Delaware's numbers put it among the five states with the fewest
structurally deficient bridges and the 15 with the fewest
functionally obsolete bridges.
According to an analysis of the federal data by TRIP, a nonprofit
organization that studies transportation issues and policies, 14
percent of the nearly 600,000 bridges nationwide are structurally
deficient. Another 14 percent are functionally obsolete. The
organization said it would cost about $136 billion to fix all of
them.
"This report that went out throughout the nation shows there are
some major problems," said John McMahon, executive vice president of
the Delaware Contractors Association, who works with the state's
Department of Transportation to establish priorities in road and
bridge construction. "But we're the fourth-lowest in the states. We
were terrible just 12 years ago, and by two or three years down the
road, they will have addressed all the major deficiencies in the
state."
Structurally deficient bridges are usually not on the verge of
collapse. Motorists might not even notice erosion while driving
across them. But not maintaining these bridges can have profound
consequences. Last fall, three people died in Waynesboro, Miss.,
when a century-old bridge across the Chickasawhay River collapsed.
Part of the reason it's getting done, Finney said, is that bridge
inspections now run in cycles, depending on the age of clusters of
bridges. The crumbling Snuff Mill Road bridges were discovered more
than three years ago, he said. Repairs to the road and bridges
should be finished by next summer.
Although small, Delaware lies in one of the most important
transportation corridors in the country, said Paul Haaland,
associate director of policy and research for TRIP.
"Our focus now is on needs for transportation because we're
seeing more traffic," Haaland said. "For states like Delaware that
are in the middle of everything, it's very important."
The state shines especially when compared with Pennsylvania. The
same federal report showed that a quarter of Pennsylvania's 22,000
bridges were structurally deficient, the third-highest percentage in
the country. Rhode Island's and Washington, D.C.'s percentages are
even worse.
Like Pennsylvania's, most of Delaware's aging and structurally
deficient bridges arch over small streams and creeks in rural areas.
Along a two-mile stretch on Snuff Mill Road, currently closed to
thru traffic, seven bridges extending over various tributaries of
Red Clay Creek need to be repaired.
"This one was pretty bad - the concrete surface," said David
Damiani, project supervisor for the Snuff Mill Road project, as he
stood over the steel girder skeleton of a 60-year-old bridge near
the corner of Old Kennett and Snuff Mill roads. The original steel
girders are in excellent shape, he said, but had to be sandblasted
and will be repainted. The new bridge will last more than 50 years,
he said.
The state will spend $5.4 million on repairs to structurally
deficient bridges this year and another $5.8 million on maintaining
other bridges. The bridge at Snuff Mill Road will cost about
$300,000 to rebuild.
Many of the bridges along Snuff Mill and nearby Old Kennett roads
are cracked and crumbling. Decades-old and newer fixes can be seen,
whether in the guise of stones piled on eroding roadway,
different-colored concrete patches smeared on widening cracks or
concrete-filled bags shoved underneath some of the eroded abutments
supporting the bridges.
Bridge repair is done in cycles, according to a specific formula
that considers overall condition, traffic volume and weight limits,
Finney said. Most of the well-trafficked bridges, such as over the
interstates, are cared for well before they become structurally
deficient, he said.
Although Finney said he expects no structurally deficient bridges
in the state in just a few years, there might be surprises, like the
recent 7-foot crack spotted on a girder by a bird-watching resident
on the I-95 bridge that stretches across the Brandywine in
Wilmington.
The bridge, on a 2-year inspection cycle because it is longer
than 20 feet, had been inspected just last year, it and has been
repaired.
Four of the state's worst bridges are in Wilmington, and they are
locked in legal wrangling between the CSX railroad, which owns them,
and the state, which is responsible for them.
Reach Victor Greto at 324-2832 or mailto:vgreto@delawareonline.com
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