Should these bridge pictures make you nervous?
|
 |
The
photographs at the left were taken at the end of August for Dare
County’s Citizens Action Committee to Replace the Bonner Bridge.
A
concerned citizen called committee chairwoman Beth Midgett and asked
her to look into the sorry condition of some of the steel I-beams under
the aging bridge, which was built in 1963 and has a sufficiency rating
of 2 out of 100.
The pictures have been making the rounds via the Internet to Hatteras islanders, and, understandably, they are concerned.
In
the top photo, the steel beam is intact, and in the center and bottom
photos it is rusted away and appears to not be supporting the bridge
structure.
However,
Don Idol, assistant bridge inspection engineer for the North Carolina
Department of Transportation, says we should not be worried by the
rusted and deteriorated steel beams.
“None of that steel has to be there,” he says, adding that none of those beams are holding the bridge up.
The
steel beams were added before 1980 in an attempt to shore up the
bridge. However, in the early ‘80s, engineers decided that
the steel beams weren’t getting the job done, and the concrete
structures that you can see around the steel structures are now
supporting the bridge.
The
concrete supports can be seen best in the bottom photo -- the concrete
piece with the square end directly underneath the bridge, the three
large rectangular concrete slabs under that, the two I-shaped concrete
pieces under the slabs, and the concrete that goes all across under the
bridge. Below the concrete that can be seen in the photos, there
are 60- to 66- inch hollow concrete pilings.
When
engineers decided to add more concrete support in the early ‘80s,
Idol says, they decided not to bother to remove the steel
I-beams. However, he emphasizes, they no longer play a role in
supporting the bridge.
A structural condition assessment of the bridge was completed last year and is available on the NCDOT Web site at http://www.ncdot.org/doh/operations/dp_chief_eng/maintenance/bridge/
A project to stabilize the bridge and make it safe for another 10 years
will begin later this year and will cost about $40 million, Idol says.
Much more information about the ongoing saga to replace the Bonner Bridge and what you can do to help is available at www.replacethebridgenow.com. |
|
|
|
|
