Late inspections of bridges put travelers at risk

'Errors and inconsistencies'
Even regular inspections can't guarantee that a bridge is safe. The I-35W bridge in Minneapolis was inspected on time, with inspections in June 2005 and June 2006. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said in mid-January that they are focusing on a design flaw, a metal plate too thin to carry the load. Such a problem would not have been detected during inspections, which focus on wear, they said. The investigation may take months more to complete.

Nevertheless, regular inspections are intended to identify safety problems, hold down the cost of maintaining bridges and increase public confidence.

It can cost as little as $50 for a visual inspection of a simple concrete culvert, or more than $10,000 for a hands-on inspection of an older steel bridge.

Certified bridge inspectors climb over and hang under bridges made of iron, steel, stone, timber and concrete, checking every pin, pier, bolt, beam, brace, weld, truss, joint, splice, rivet, cable, girder, stringer, abutment and gusset plate, looking for rust, mold, cracks, scour, scaling, spalling, warping, corrosion, honeycombing, efflorescence, delamination and peeling paint, which can be caused by salt, wind, water, fatigue, friction, freezing, thawing, termites, fungi, earthquakes, chemicals, vibration, vegetation, barge strikes and mollusk borers, also known as shipworms.

Unlike elevators, bridges have no signs proclaiming, "Last inspected in ..."

So msnbc.com went to the records, asking for an updated copy of the National Bridge Inventory under the Freedom of Information Act. States and federal agencies submit these inspection records to the Federal Highway Administration. The new records, reflecting inspections through 2006, were submitted by the states in April 2007. Msnbc.com followed up with a survey of every state about inspection procedures.

The records aren't perfect. Although the Federal Highway Administration offered assurances that the records are "checked for errors and inconsistencies before being loaded into the database," several states thanked msnbc.com for pointing out mistakes in their records — errors that any modern data management system should have red flagged.

When Kansas provided latitude and longitude for mapping its bridges, for example, it placed 2,363 of them at the same location just a few miles north of the capital — not Topeka but Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland.

Kentucky officials didn't submit their inspection records at all this year, because of problems switching to new software, but promise that they have been keeping up with inspections.

In Pennsylvania, officials say they missed the deadline for data entry on many bridges. Most of the hundreds of bridges that they reported as being late were actually inspected on time, they said.

And several states objected to being held to the records they submitted in April. Bridges are being inspected every day.

Even if reporting of the bridge information sometimes lags, the National Bridge Inventory is the only comprehensive source of information on the health of the nation's bridges.

And many bridges do go years past their inspection due dates. In Wichita, Kan., 200 city-owned bridges went five years between inspections, from 2002 to 2007. No penalty was levied.

"We acknowledge that the city had fallen behind the formal inspection process, as had most Kansas communities," the city public works director, Chris Carrier, said in a press release when the inspections were finished in December. "However, because of our ongoing maintenance efforts, the safety of Wichita motorists has always been assured."

‘We don't have responsibility’
State departments of transportation across the nation told msnbc.com that many of the overdue bridges were not their problem, because the bridges are owned by counties, cities or towns.

Missouri Department of Transportation An underbridge inspection vehicle provides a close-up view.

When Arizona officials were asked why some bridges were late, the answer came back: Those bridges are in Phoenix.

"Responsibility for the bridges remains with the local jurisdictions," said spokesman Doug Nintzel of the Arizona Department of Transportation.

In Ohio, "under state law we don't have responsibility for those bridges," said Scott Varner, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. "I'm not saying that to wash our hands of the responsibility, but our ability to take action is limited by state law."

But the federal regulations are explicit: While states can delegate to local governments the task of bridge inspection, they cannot delegate the responsibility. States are responsible for every bridge within their borders, aside from those owned by federal agencies and private individuals.

Click for related content Part 2: Federal agency lets states delay inspections Which states fell behind on inspections Where the bad bridges are How msnbc.com analyzed the records

States own overdue bridges, too. The greatest number of bridges that were reported past 24 months were owned by states (7,961), followed by local government (6,276), federal agencies (2,939), and other owners (27).

Hawaii, the state with the worst inspection record, also has one of the highest rates of deficient or obsolete bridges. Transportation officials said they leave bridge inspections to districts and counties, which employ no full-time bridge inspectors and rely mostly on contractors. "Many factors account for the late inspections," state transportation officials said in a statement, "including lack of manpower, lack of personnel to concentrate primarily on bridge inspections, personnel performing dual duties with unclear priorities, poor timing of procurement for consultant services, etc."

The officials said this week that Hawaii is catching up on inspections, down from 500 overdue bridges to about 100, with a goal of being caught up in February. And the state is considering a new approach: "The only changes we are discussing and evaluating at this time is to emphasize that the bridge inspections should be done in a timely manner and given the priority that it demands."

Rhode Island, with the second worst inspection record, also ranks second in bad bridges, just behind the District of Columbia. State officials in Rhode Island said their inspection delays stemmed mostly from a decision to hand bridge inspections over to contractors. That meant the state went from 12 in-house bridge inspectors in 2000 to only three in 2007. It fell behind during that transition. The state also had delays inspecting bridges over Amtrak railroad tracks, but recently reached an agreement with Amtrak to get those checked, they said. As of this week, officials said they have 80 past-due bridges, down from 199, and should be caught up by the end of February.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Waves crash against a rock at Baker Beach near the Golden Gate Bridge, which is a year behind on its two-year inspection.

In San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge is running nearly a year behind schedule, but for good cause, an official said. The previous inspection started in June 2004, and continued for nine months until March 2005. The next inspection began on time in March 2006, but stopped, blocked by construction to bolster the bridge against major earthquakes. Inspection resumed in March 2007, and is expected to be finished early this year.

The 70-year-old landmark is closely watched and has workers on it nearly every day, said Mary Currie, spokeswoman for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. On its previous inspection, it scored 7.4 out of 9 points on its overall structural evaluation, or "better than present minimum criteria."

MORE FROM BRIDGE INSPECTIONS

Bridge inspections Section Front

Bridge collapse revealed holes in fed data Part 1: Thousands of bridges inspected late Part 2: Feds let states delay bridge inspections Ga. employee faked bridge inspections Which states fell behind on bridge inspections? Which states have bad bridges? How the analysis was done Bridge inspections Section Front   Add Bridge inspections headlines to your news reader: