Ottawa County Bridge Inspected

Monday, August 13th 2007, 9:26 am

By: News On 6

At the urging of the federal government, Oklahoma engineers are inspecting almost a dozen bridges across the state. One that caught their attention is over the Spring River near Miami. All the bridges were built from similar blueprints, the same sort of structure as the bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis. The News On 6â€™s Joshua Brakhage reports engineers say it's all about being proactive and preventing problems before they turn tragic.

The usual traffic on state Highway 10 saw an unusual site as they crossed the Spring River near Miami. Over 4,000 travelers cross the bridge every day, but all the attention is on one truck, not what it's doing on the bridge, but what the guys are doing underneath.

It's an out-of-the-ordinary inspection, ordered by the Federal Highway Administration.

"This bridge is a similar design as the one in Minnesota that collapsed. It's a deck-truss bridge,â€ said ODOT chief engineer John Fuller. â€œIf you'll notice, all of the truss is below the deck of the road so the roadway sits up on top of the trusses and that's what was recommended and urged to all the State Departments of Transportation to reinspect all similar structures. That's why we're reinspecting this structure right now, in addition to our regular inspection process."

Fuller says they're doing it to assure drivers and themselves that the state's bridges are safe. Four of the eleven deck-truss bridges in Oklahoma are labeled as fracture critical. A bridge over railroad tracks near Purcell is one of them.

Fracture critical means if one spot on the bridge gave way, the whole bridge would come down with it. Engineers say if inspectors found a problem, they wouldn't hesitate to shut the bridge down.

"For the age of this structure and this type of bridge, it's in remarkably good condition,â€ said Fuller.

Fuller says he's happy to do additional inspections. They're good for drivers' and engineers' peace of mind.

"We know that in general, our bridges are old, they're aging. They're not the best in the world. In fact, Oklahoma rates as having the highest percentage of structurally deficient bridges of any state in the country. And for that reason it's important we inspect them frequently. We have to know the condition of those bridges,â€ Fuller said.

ODOT's chief engineer says deck-truss bridges aren't built anymore. They were popular back in the 1930â€™s and went out of fashion in the 1960â€™s. That means most all deck-truss bridges are relatively old. The Miami bridge was built in 1952.

They're inspecting the steel inch by inch, looking for corrosion or more importantly, cracks. It could take a couple days to finish the job.

Watch the video: ODOT Inspects Ottawa County Bridge

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8/2/2007 - State Officials Say Oklahoma Bridges Are Safe

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8/3/2007 - Structurally Deficient Bridges

8/3/2007 Oklahoma Bridges Get Poor Rating

8/9/2007 ODOT Inspects Broken Arrow Expressway Bridge