BLOOMINGTON - At least three of 17 bridges in McLean County in need of significant repair or replacement already have been replaced, local officials said two days after a Minneapolis bridge collapse turned the nation's eye to its aging infrastructure.

A federal database, compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration, lists a total of nearly 710,000 bridges in the country.

A Pantagraph study of that data on Friday revealed work already under way or addressed by state and local transportation officials.

For instance, the Fell Avenue bridge was the only one in Bloomington to make the federal list of bridges needing repairs, but it was replaced last year.

"Our bridges should be in pretty good shape," said Kevin Kothe, a Bloomington design engineer. The city replaced the Emerson Street bridge several years ago, but it was not on the federal list.

"Emerson was a very critical bridge for us to replace," Kothe said. "That was an old truss bridge with narrow lanes."

The database was last updated in February 2006, according to federal documents.

Of the 601 public bridges that exist in McLean County, the federal database lists 17 as structurally deficient, giving them a rating of less than 50 percent. Under federal criteria, that rating means a bridge may need to be replaced. The database only addresses bridges that come under government review.

In Normal, four bridges made the federal list, but one already has been repaired and two others are scheduled for replacement next year.

Town Engineer Gene Brown said the Franklin Avenue bridge over Sugar Creek was repaired several years ago. The designs for the Virginia Street bridge are nearly complete, and the town has allocated $1.2 million for the work.

Brown said the town has applied for federal highway money to replace the Broadway bridge over Sugar Creek, but has decided to wait on work for the University Street bridge.

The University Street bridge was last inspected in October 2006 and is in bad shape, but not enough to post weight limits on it, Brown said.

"It's not a major route, and we are monitoring it," Brown said.

Brown said the town wants to see how BroMenn Regional Medical Center expands. The bridge may be unnecessary depending on those plans.

In McLean County, bridges already have been replaced over Sugar Creek at White Oak Road and at Township Road 330 over Little Kickapoo Creek near Downs.

Assistant County Highway Engineer Eric Schmitt said one bridge on Township Road 109 near Pleasant Hill and another on Township Road 239A near Colfax will be rebuilt next year. Design work already is done.

Weight limits already have been reduced for bridges on Township Road 608 near Bellflower and Township Road 94 near Shirley, but they are not scheduled for replacement, Schmitt said.

The state has jurisdiction over six bridges in McLean County that have made the federal list. One - over Sugar Creek at Illinois 9/Market Street in Bloomington - is under construction. The status of the other five couldn't be determined Friday because state engineers could not be reached for comment.

The federal database uses close to 100 criteria per bridge to categorize the condition of the structures.

---

McLean County's bridges

None of the 17 bridges are considered to have critical fractures or problems, but they have been deemed deficient and may need to be replaced. In parentheses is the creek/river the bridge crosses, and "TR" stands for township road.

Work pending/planned/started, Built, Traffic

Ill. 9/Market Street (Sugar), 1980, 16,900

NE of Bellflower (Lone Tree), 1958, 79

TR94 NW of Shirley (Kings Mill), 1958, 550

TR109 at Pleasant Hill (Pattons), 1956, 50

TR239A SE of Colfax (Mackinaw), 1959, 100

Virginia St., near U.S. 51 (Sugar), 1950, 6,100

University St., near U.S. 51 (Sugar), 1935, 1,250

Broadway, in Normal (Sugar), 1940, 1,050

Unknown status

I-55 northbound at business loop, 1963, 9,550

I-55 at I-74 junction, 1964, 9,550

I-55 business loop at I-74, 1963, 3,850

Ill. 9 east of I-55 (Sugar), 1928*, 2,400

U.S. 150 at Downs (Kickapoo), 1974, 6,900

Replaced/repaired

White Oak Road near I-55 (Sugar), 1954, 5,700

Franklin Ave., near U.S. 51 (Sugar), 1940, 700

Fell Ave., near U.S. 150 (Sugar), 1908, 1,500

TR330 SW of Downs (L. Kickapoo), 1954, 50

NOTES: * = repaired in 1973; traffic is daily average vehicles

SOURCE: U.S. Dept. of Transportation's Federal Highway Admin.'s list of structural evaluations; last update in Feb. 2006