Published: September 08, 2007 08:38 am      

Area bridges are safe, state DOT says

By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau

Area bridges are safe to drive on, although several are rated as functionally obsolete and structurally deficient by federal standards.

``Our bridges are safe and if they weren’t safe, we’d close them,’’ Charles Carrier, a state Department of Transportation spokesman, said Friday.

The state continually inspects bridges, but at the request of Gov. Eliot Spitzer has conducted a special statewide inspection in the wake of the Minneapolis bridge collapse last month that killed at least 13 people and injured about 100.

As a result of the spot inspection, one bridge in western New York was posted to limit the weight of vehicles that can cross it, Carrier said. Other bridges were found to be accurately rated, he said.

In the days after the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge, which had been rated structurally deficient, ``our phones were busy,’’ Carrier said. People were worried that some of New York’s bridges might be ready to come down, he said.

But New York state has a very rigorous inspection program, he added, ``more stringent’’ than federal standards call for, and motorists need not worry.

As a result of heightened concern, the state DOT has released more information about bridges in the state. A comprehensive, county-by-county analysis of the state’s bridges is available at http://www.nysdot.gov/bridgedata.

That chart indicates that some bridges in Otsego and Delaware County are rated functionally obsolete and structurally deficient.

According to a statement issued by DOT, ``Bridges are considered �structurally deficient’ by the federal Highway Administration if significant load carrying elements are found to be in poor or worse condition due to deterioration and/or damage, the bridge has inadequate load capacity, or repeated bridge flooding causes traffic delays."

The statement continues, ``The fact that a bridge is `structurally deficient’ does not imply that it is unsafe or likely to collapse...`Functionally obsolete’ refers to a bridge’s inability to meet current standards for managing the volume of traffic it carries, not its structural integrity. For example, a bridge may be functionally obsolete if it has narrow lanes, no shoulders, or low clearances.’’

Kevin Flint, Otsego County’s deputy highway superintendent, said Friday that he believes that county bridges are in good condition. However, he noted that the county does not oversee bridges owned by towns and villages.

Wayne Reynolds, Delaware County’s highway superintendent, said Delaware County embarked on a 10-year program in 1994 to improve the county’s bridges.

As part of the program, the county began oversight of town and village bridges as well as county spans.