Doublespeak

If a bridge is considered sound or safe to drive on then how can it be labelled "structurally deficient"? I'm not inspired at all by the politicians stepping up and saying oh, our state bridges are fine to drive on. What worries me is that the negative connotation of "structurally deficient" will lead to some innocuous doublespeak term being used instead to lull us all into a sense of safety and then...splish splash, we're down in the water off another bridge!

And who is going to do anything anyway? It's been two years since Hurricane Katrina practically wiped out New Orleans--well, not the storm itself but the inadequate levee system failing. What is different or better there now? Nothing.

People are so stupid. Yeah, I mean me too. I should do more than just rant and rave, I should be on the phone and writing to the donkey congresspeople but ... I already know no one is going to listen. Bah.

12 of 364 bridges in county are 'deficient'

By JOHN REITMEYER
Burlington County Times

MOUNT HOLLY — More than 90 percent of the 364 bridges maintained by the Burlington County Board of Freeholders are rated above the federal benchmark used to measure the structural sufficiency of bridges.

That's the good news. The more unsettling fact is that 12 of those bridges are rated in the federal government's “structurally deficient” category.

The rankings maintained by the Federal Highway Administration don't mean the spans are unsafe or in danger of collapsing, but they do serve as notice that a bridge is in need of repair or replacement, according to the federal agency.

For example, one of the bridges in Burlington County that is categorized as deficient by the federal government is the bridge spanning Rancocas Creek on Smithville Road in Eastampton.

That bridge is inspected every two years and the county Engineer's Office says it is confident the bridge is structurally sound. Yet the bridge has a sufficiency rating of 22.7 on a scale of 0 to 100 and the county is currently designing a replacement.

The federal benchmark for a structurally deficient bridge is a rating of 50 or lower. The ranking qualifies the bridge for federal funds for repairs or replacement.

Joseph Caruso, the county's longtime engineer, said seven of the 12 county spans rated below 50, are slated to be replaced and are in the design phase. The others undergo routine inspections to ensure safety, he said.

“They are safe for traveling,” Caruso said, noting that some of the bridges have weight limits that must be obeyed.

In all, the county has spent $81 million on bridge maintenance over the past 25 years.

“Twenty-five years ago, we had 96 bridges with weight limits,” Freeholder Vince Farias said in a news release. “Today we have 21.”

Two other bridges that fall below the federal benchmark and into the structurally deficient category are the two Delaware River spans operated by the Burlington County Bridge Commission.

The Burlington-Bristol and Tacony-Palmyra toll bridges have sufficiency ratings of 30.1 and 34.1 respectively, according to the federal government.

Both spans are more than 75 years old, but proper maintenance and frequent inspections by an on-site engineer keeps the bridges safe for motorists, bridge commission officials said yesterday.

“Nothing is more important to us than maintaining safe bridges for the people who use them,” Commissioner James Fletcher said in a prepared statement.

More than $20 million will be spent this year on improvements to the commission's bridges, he said.

The state of bridges in the United States has come under intense scrutiny since a bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River on Wednesday night, causing at least five deaths and 100 injuries.

The Interstate 35W Bridge that fell in Minnesota had been ranked at 50 by the federal government and was undergoing repairs.

In all, there are 36 bridges in Burlington County deemed structurally deficient. That number includes those under the control of the state, the bridge commission, the freeholders and municipal governments.

Some engineers said yesterday the term “structurally deficient'' may be misleading since there are more than 100 checkpoints for bridge inspections and many have nothing to do with the stability of the structure.

Caruso said the government may want to find another classification for bridges that is easier for non-engineers to understand.

“(Structurally deficient) sounds too bad,” he said. “Maybe we shouldn't use that term.”

“It should be made clear that these ratings serve as a guideline as to what repairs may be necessary, (but) they do not indicate that a bridge is structurally unsound for the motoring public,” said David Lowdermilk, vice president of the engineering firm used by the bridge commission to conduct inspections. “The bottom line (is) the commission bridges are safe.”

E-Mail: JOHN REITMEYER