Editorial: Minneapolis Bridge Collapse Spurs Probes Nationwide

The answer to, “Why did the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapse?” may be a long time coming. What a tragic way to have to learn that spans across America need immediate and thorough inspection!

The final cost of the collapse may never be known. Soon, perhaps, we will learn the cost in human life. Debris removal will continue for some time.

The tragedy lit a fire under Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, who has called for a re-evaluation of the nation’s entire bridge inspection program. According to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report, the finding following a three-year study ending in 2001 was that there are problems with inspection methods. Only 4 percent of the 49 inspectors (from 25 state agencies) were able to detect hidden flaws in seven test bridges. (The federal government requires inspections on bridges more than 20 feet in length every 24 months.)

One report out of Minneapolis indicates an inspection of the bridge in the 1990s concluded that the bridge needed attention. At this juncture we’re told the work being done at the time of the collapse was mostly cosmetic—repair of surface damage that occurred during the winter.

We know there are other bridges around the nation in serious need of repair; some might require closing once new inspections are completed. That there are 10,240 bridges in Missouri’s state highway system alone suggests how immense the problem is nationwide.

As one Journal correspondent informed us, an Illinois Waterway bridge near Joliet, Ill., has been condemned by the Truman/Hobbs Act, but no action seems to have been taken. The EJ&E railroad bridge at Mile 290.1 isn’t a major highway bridge, “but trains pass over this [lift] span, and some barges with some pretty mean hazards pass under it,” our correspondent said. He says, “Due to its narrow spans, it is the most-hit bridge in the United States.”

If all the moons line up just right, if a train goes over this bridge at the same time that a barge with highly toxic or flammable cargo is passing beneath it, and if it collapses, there would be another tragedy. We can’t help but wonder, if the Joliet area folks who live in the vicinity of the bridge know it is condemned, and if they find out, will they be upset? Should we tell them?

Not to be overlooked is that the federal government, working with state governments, is obligated to see that the entire infrastructure of our nation is properly maintained—to protect the folks, so to speak. That includes not only bridges and highways, but levees and floodwalls and, yes, even locks and dams. With modern heavy truck traffic and barge traffic, highways, bridges, and waterway structures are exposed to more wear and stress than anticipated at the time they were built. Years ago, one river lock actually collapsed with a towboat in the lock.

Most of these structures utilize concrete in their construction. Concrete has a life expectancy. For X number of years after it is poured (25 or so, one source said), concrete gains in strength. Then it gradually begins to weaken. Many river structures have long outlived their design life. In essence, we are symbolically holding them together with baling wire.

When bridges and navigational facilities rot, it requires more than just a cosmetic fix. Currently under the spotlight are scour holes, which represent problems for bridge supports, locks and dams, etc. Billions of gallons of water, filled with gritty sand, flushes by and scours out huge holes that undermine river structures. This occurs frequently during floods. Vital soil is sometimes washed away from bridge supports, thus destabilizing the entire structure. Around dams it has been necessary to dump huge boulders into the scour holes—boulders so large and heavy that the water cannot dislodge them. A few decades back, at Lock 25 on the Upper Mississippi River, the river scoured under the lock wall and the nearby parking lot began to collapse.

Maintaining infrastructure is vital. We are now at the point where the rubber meets the road. Unlike its lackadaisical approach to maintaining our river system structures, Congress must do a better job of financing bridge maintenance.

Evidence of the outburst of attention is seen in the fact that President Bush visited Minneapolis and promised to cut red tape—to rebuild as quickly as possible. That promise didn’t set well with folks around New Orleans. Thousands of them still await decent recovery efforts. To make things worse, a federal appeals court ruled on August 2 that Katrina victims couldn’t recover money from insurance companies for floodwater damages.

The Water Resources Development Act, which now languishes in limbo over the congressional recess due to a “hold” put on the legislation by Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), also deals with infrastructure maintenance. Not only do Mississippi and Illinois river navigation structures need enlarging, they are desperately in need of maintenance.

We suggest legislators put a hold on some of their unnecessary pet projects and direct the flow of capital toward crucial maintenance of infrastructure.

The Waterways Journal encourages letters to the editor.
Have something on your mind?
Send letters to: jshoulberg@waterwaysjournal.net.
(Please indicate whether or not your letter is intended for publication.)