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Bridges rated in poor shape peppered around Illinois
By Ryan Keith
Associated Press
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SPRINGFIELD — More than 1,500 Illinois bridges, some used by tens of thousands of people each day, carry worse structural ratings than the Minneapolis span that collapsed last month and killed 13 people, according to a review of records by The Associated Press.

Cars and trucks are barreling across worn-out decks, crumbling pillars or aging supports. One bridge in downtown Chicago that carries 139,000 vehicles every day has a structural rating of just 2 out of 100.

“It’s highly questionable that those should even be open,” said John Frauenhoffer, a Champaign engineer and past president of the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers. “That’s a ridiculously low number.”

State officials acknowledge the safety concerns but insist they’re doing all they can to repair the poorest ones and keep an eye on others.

“We can’t just live with 93 percent or 82 percent or whatever. We want 100 percent of our bridges to be safe,” said Ralph Anderson, engineer of bridges and structures for the Illinois Department of Transportation. “We’re managing as well as we can within our means.”

Overall, the vast majority of Illinois’ 26,000 bridges are deemed safe.

Fewer than 10 percent are rated “structurally deficient” by inspectors. Nearly 890 of the 2,400 bridges in the deficient category simply need attention and some rehabilitation work, not replacement.

But more than 1,500 have bigger problems, bringing them a rating of 50 — the same as the Minneapolis bridge — or lower. A full one-third of those bridges were rated at 25 or below.

The ratings are based on a long list of factors that measure whether a bridge is structurally sound and able to meet modern traffic needs. The federal government will provide rehabilitation money for bridges rated 80 or below and will help replace bridges at 50 or below.

A low rating doesn’t mean a collapse is imminent. But it does mean that inspectors see potential problems, which triggers a complicated process of determining how urgently the bridge needs repairs.

“It’s a moving target,” IDOT’s Anderson said. “It isn’t a science, it is somewhat of an art.”

The worst-rated bridges are mostly little-traveled spans in smaller counties in central and southern Illinois. They’re usually old and carry little truck traffic.

Others, however, are major crossings. They include:

-- The south bridge of Interstate 290 over the Chicago River, which carries 139,000 vehicles a day and has a sufficiency rating of 2. A sufficiency rating summarizes detailed inspection data for a bridge’s deck, superstructure and substructure.

-- A Peoria County bridge on U.S. 24 that serves 28,800 vehicles a day and scored only a 16.

-- The Stewart Avenue elevated section of Interstate 90-94 in Cook County, which carries 238,500 vehicles a day and scored a 35.

Bridges worry Maurice Jones, a Chicago security guard.

“I don’t like none of them, I don’t like walking over them,” Jones said as vehicles zoomed across the rusty Chicago River bridge, which clanged as cars hit bumps and creaked slightly under the weight of a semitrailer.

“I’d like all of them to get fixed and repaired,” he said. “These are people’s lives you’re playing with.”

Anderson, the state engineer, acknowledged the low scores are troubling but said the agency is doing what it is supposed to — delivering attention and money to the bridges that need repairs the most.

The department either has done major work or will start it soon on two low-rated Chicago bridges and several others in the area, closing lanes and spending millions of dollars. Bridges generally are inspected every two years. The lowest-rated bridges get yearly inspections, and some are examined more often and for more detailed problem areas, Anderson said.

“The bridge is talking. We’re just hoping that we’re listening,” he said.

Still, there is no trigger point on the rating scale where officials are required to shut down a bridge for repairs or replacement, making such decisions more subjective. IDOT did not release its inspection reports for 10 low-rated bridges, despite multiple requests over nearly two weeks.

Governments need money for repairs, but that has been scarce in Illinois. Gov. Rod Blagojevich and state lawmakers have been deadlocked for years over proposals to borrow money for a major new construction program.

The Aug. 1 collapse in Minneapolis, which remains a mystery, has renewed calls for action in Illinois. Officials may try again to agree on a source of money when lawmakers return to Springfield in September.

Bridge inspectors don’t have the luxury of taking a span out of service to pore over every inch of it, the way an airplane is inspected. They have to review a bridge’s strength and condition while it’s being used and then estimate the effect of everything from corrosion to traffic.

“Once you see something, even harder is to understand what the impact of that is on the safety of the bridge,” said Robert Dodds, head of the civil engineering department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The biggest challenge is prioritizing the bridges so that the limited pot of state and federal money goes to the spans most in need of repair or replacement. Experts say bridges often take a back seat to higher-profile transportation problems, such as reducing teen deaths.

“If we were killing 6,000 people a year with our highway bridges, we’d be spending more money,” Frauenhoffer said.



The best and worst

The 10 Illinois counties with the highest percentages of bridges deemed structurally deficient and the 10 with the lowest percentages, based on an Associated Press analysis of December 2006 data provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation:

Most deficient

-- Wabash: 25 of 91 bridges structurally deficient (27.5 percent)

-- Shelby: 90 of 356 bridges (25.3 percent)

-- White: 39 of 213 bridges (18.3 percent)

-- Hamilton: 30 of 167 bridges (18 percent)

-- Clay: 29 of 163 bridges (17.8 percent)

-- Christian: 56 of 321 bridges (17.4 percent)

-- Edwards: 13 of 78 bridges (16.7 percent)

-- Macoupin: 40 of 243 bridges (16.5 percent)

-- Lake: 38 of 232 bridges (16.4 percent)

-- Brown: 11 of 68 bridges (16.2 percent)

Least deficient

-- Ogle: 5 of 373 bridges structurally deficient (1.3 percent)

-- Putnam: 1 of 43 bridges (2.3 percent)

-- Champaign: 17 of 695 bridges (2.4 percent)

-- Edgar: 7 of 266 bridges (2.6 percent)

-- Kankakee: 10 of 342 bridges (2.9 percent)

-- Massac: 4 of 128 bridges (3.1 percent)

-- Kendall: 4 of 121 bridges (3.3 percent)

-- DeKalb: 10 of 256 bridges (3.9 percent)

-- Clark: 9 of 227 bridges (4 percent)

-- Scott: 4 of 100 bridges (4 percent)

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Reader comments on this story - 10 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

JD wrote on Sep 2, 2007 8:43 PM:

" Who put the people into office? Who does not pay attention to where their representatives are spending the money, and continues to vote them into office? Who does pay attention to their representatives, but votes for them anyway, even knowing what they are like? Residents of Illinois can not attempt to wash their hands for what the representatives are doing. Illinois politicians do what it takes for them to get re-elected, and the people are so dazzled by ads they fall for it. The people are responsible for what goes on government because the people put the incompetence there. "

Andy wrote on Sep 2, 2007 4:05 PM:

" To JD: Are you kidding me? It isn't the people that are deciding where to spend the money. Yeah we want our reps to spend on important things, but who decided bridges weren't important? You? Me? No. The idiots in charge did. Wake up. "

JD wrote on Sep 2, 2007 11:21 AM:

" People want to blame the government, but it is the people who are continually demanding money be spend in less important areas. It is the people who do not seem to realize that there is only so much tax money, and each time they support for new 'feel good' project, or demand larger budgets for programs, the money has to come from somewhere. The residents of Illinois do not know what is best for them. They are like children, wanting everything and thinking it comes at no cost. "

Re: To Downstater wrote on Sep 2, 2007 11:12 AM:

" Spoken like a true blue democrat. Your governor is the most corrupt politician other than Richie Daley and all you can do is sling mud about the cost of the war, that has prevented our country from being attacked again. Way to go liberal and it is your rhetoric and philosophies that will hand the country back over to the GOP in 2008. "

well said! wrote on Sep 2, 2007 9:06 AM:

" The Gov. get's to spruce up his plane when he should be driving over some of these bridges..... "

Here it comes! wrote on Sep 2, 2007 7:12 AM:

" More taxes to fix Chicago's bridges! Let em swim it! "

No Wonder Blago wrote on Sep 2, 2007 6:28 AM:

" wants the plane refurbished he is too afraid to cross the bridges he wants to fly over them. Of course now the fact that 133K to reupholster the plane could repair several of those bridges means nothing to him, let the people sink as long as he flies over us; the typical democratic creedo. "

Everyone panic! wrote on Sep 2, 2007 1:04 AM:

" Yes, let's everyone get worked into a froth because of a freak accident. "

To Downstater wrote on Sep 1, 2007 11:52 PM:

" Well, when you have 8-12 Billion a month, nearly a half trillion in the last 4 years going to Iraq, you can see why we are in trouble... "

Downstater wrote on Sep 1, 2007 10:14 PM:

" Our bridges may be in bad shape, but our Governor's plane is going to be in great shape! "
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