BCT Editorial – 2/17/08

This page was last updated on February 17, 2008.

Aging; Editorial; Beaver County Times; February 17, 2008.

It’s possible the Times is walking off the same cliff it did after last summer’s Minnesota bridge collapse. Immediately after the collapse, editorials told us how it was an example of not maintaining our infrastructure. In fairness, however, the Times was just jumping on the bandwagon. When the collapse report came out later and attributed the main cause to a design flaw (Gusset plates were ½ the thickness they should have been.) and a contributing factor was the weight of construction equipment/materials on the bridge, Times editorials were predictably silent.

So far, the Times is doing the same thing with Pittsburgh’s Birmingham Bridge. To date, PennDOT has not determined the cause of the roadway shift, but the Times is sure it has to do with inadequate maintenance.

According to the editorial, “it turns out that the span has been rated ‘structurally deficient’ for six of the last eight years under federal guidelines. The Associated Press reported a ‘structurally deficient’ bridge is not necessarily dangerous. The designation means the bridge’s deck, superstructure or sub structure is in poor condition. Nor is the current problem related to past problems, the latest of which were taken care of in 2005.”

This “reporting” differs markedly from a February 16^th story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. According to “Birmingham Bridge south opening set,” “PennDOT officials are perplexed by the incident. The bridge underwent renovations and was inspected as recently as 2006. Another inspection after last week’s incident revealed that the rest of the bridge was structurally sound and that the problem was localized. ‘What I would note is that bridge was not structurally deficient and that these bearings on the last inspection in 2006 were not identified as a problem,’ said Dan Cessna, District 11 executive for PennDOT.” You should note that as of February 17^th, there are no “news” stories concerning the bridge on the Times website.

Could the Times eventually turn out to be right about the Birmingham Bridge? Sure, even a stopped clock is right once or twice a day.