Fed list: Area has several 'structurally deficient' bridges

In Southeast Missouri, several spans made a federal list of "structurally deficient" bridges highlighted in an investigation by The Associated Press.

The bridges on the list are managed by either the county in which they are located, or, if a state route or highway, by the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Seven bridges maintained by the state in Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Scott and Stoddard counties are on the list.

In Bollinger County, there are three: a Highway 34 bridge that crosses Gimlet Creek west of Marble Hill, and two bridges on Highway 51. One bridge crosses the Little Whitewater Creek and the other crosses the Castor River. In Cape Girardeau County, three state-maintained bridges also made the list: a bridge on U.S. 61 that crosses Hughes Creek; a Route A bridge that crosses the Whitewater River; and a Route D bridge that crosses Byrd Creek. Scott County had one ditch crossing bridge on Highway 77 on the list; and in Stoddard County, bridges on Route DD and Route J were named.

David Wyman, an engineer for MoDOT, said the region has several bridges that are aging, and MoDOT inspects those bridges on a yearly basis. Wyman also said the term "structurally deficient" can only be applied to bridges that basically would have difficulty holding the weight of two semi-trucks at once. Bridges may be termed "functionally obsolete," because of their width. In Southeast Missouri, that most often means bridges are one lane, when modern bridge-building standards require two lanes.

"Just because a bridge is deemed structurally deficient, it does not mean it is an unsafe bridge," Wyman said. "Especially in rural areas, it is unlikely that two trucks will travel over it at the same time."

Only two local state-maintained bridges on the list are now scheduled for replacement in the fall of 2014 as part of a statewide transportation improvement plan, including the Highway 51 bridge in Bollinger County that crosses the Little Whitewater Creek and the U.S. 61 bridge in Cape Girardeau County that crosses Hughes Creek. Wyman also said the state keeps a constantly changing list of bridge repairs and replacements, and others could be added to the list for replacement depending on their surveyed condition.

"The way it works is that for everything, in this case every bridge that needs to go on to that list, we try to get one off by getting it done," Wyman said.

Stoddard County, aside from Bollinger County, had the most bridges overall on the federal list of several counties in the region, counting those maintained by the state and county, yet Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis said the list does not reflect the most recent inspection information, bridge use status or planned repairs or replacements when compared with the county's records.

Listed as structurally deficient on the federal list in Stoddard County are bridges on rural county roads 499 and 784, along with a bridge on Old Route 60 near Dudley, Mo.

The bridge on County Road 499 is a 290-foot long former railroad bridge that crosses the St. Francis River and connects Stoddard County with Butler County, Mathis said. The bridge has been closed to traffic for several months because the cost of repairs needs to be shared by the two counties, and Butler County currently doesn't have the funds to pay its part, Mathis said. The estimated cost to repair the bridge is $1.3 million, and after evaluation by engineers and officials in both counties, Stoddard County decided to keep its options open for rebuilding or repairing more frequently used bridges by not paying for repair or replacement of the County Road 499 bridge. The bridge is not on a highly traveled route.

A bridge on County Road 784 soon will be replaced, Mathis said. Plans for replacement are currently in the engineering and design phase. The bridge on Old Route 60 also has been reinspected by MoDOT since the federal list was compiled, and deemed structurally safe, Mathis said.

No bridges on county roads in Scott County made the federal list, but two in Perry County and four in Bollinger County did.

The Southeast Missourian on Friday couldn't reach Bollinger and Perry county officials with information about their county road bridges. In Bollinger County, listed bridges are located on county roads 416, 524, 714. The fourth is listed in the village of Glenallen.

In Perry County, a bridge on County Road 212 that crosses the Diversion Channel made the list, as did a bridge on County Road 921 that crosses a tributary.

There were also two bridges on the list in Cape Girardeau County, but the one maintained solely by the county highway department, on County Road 238 at the Diversion Channel, is not structurally deficient, according to administrator Scott Bechtold. The bridge is instead classified as "functionally obsolete."

"It's not currently limited with weight," Bechtold said. "In other words, it's a strong bridge, but remains one lane."

eragan@semissourian.com

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