NYC Bridges Need Work, But DOT Says They're Safe

As many people wonder about the state of the bridges in the New York City region, in the wake of I-35 collapsing in Minneapolis, the city's Department of Transportation is trying to reassure residents that our bridges are safe. Though many bridges meet the definition of "deficient" - 19% of bridges are in "fair" or "poor" condition, 15% meet the federal definition of "structurally deficient" - a DOT first deputy commissioner Lori Ardito says, "In New York, we do not have any bridges that are structurally deficient."

Ardito explained the Brooklyn Bridge's poor rating, "There's only components of the bridge that are in poor condition. They're actually the ramps leading to the bridge, not the span of the bridge. If the bridge was deemed unsafe, we would have to close it." The components of the Brooklyn Bridge in poor condition include "rusting steel joints...deteriorating brick and mortar on its ramps...roadway deck on the Manhattan and Brooklyn approaches."

Regular people had mixed opinions: Calvin Thomas told the Daily News, "You don't know how they maintain these bridges. I can't tell by looking at it but I'm sure even this bridge needs maintenance." On the flip side, Jennifer Cain mused to the NY Times, "I think because it's been up for over 120 years, [the Brooklyn Bridge has] got to be safe." And Joe Rainer said to the Sun, "I probably have a better chance at Atlantic City than falling off that bridge."

The Post has an article about infrastructure with an interesting quote from former DOT assistant commissioner Sam Schwartz (who also appeared on the Today show):

The [free] Queensboro Bridge, which should be used by 110,000 vehicles a day, is used by 150,000 vehicles a day, and those additional vehicles come from the Midtown Tunnel and from the Triborough Bridge, with no revenue stream to fix the Queensboro Bridge.

"It's been crumbling, and all our bridges have been crumbling, because there has been no revenue base. So it's been bad for us to have those extra 40,000 vehicles pounding the bridge with no revenue stream to maintain the bridge."

Schwartz also believes that that no more than 1% of bridges should be structurally deficient (the statewide average is 9%), "It’s too hard to monitor all those bridges with greater frequency.”

The Post shows all bridges in fair and poor conditions with photographs, while the Daily News pinpoints them on a map. WCBS 2 had tips on how to escape a sinking car; there are some detailed instructions but an easy way to keep the principles in mind is "POGO: P -- Pop the seat belt; O -- Open the window; GO -- Get out." And the News' Michael Daly had a column titled, "Minnesota sadly gets a Ground Zero."

Currently, five people are confirmed dead from the I-35 collapse; about seven others are missing and presumed dead. Interesting: The Minnesota DOT was worried about cracking in the bridge and considered putting steel plates in the supports last year; but then it worried that bolting the plates would weaken the bridge.

Photograph of the Tappan Zee Bridge, which has a structure similar to I-35 and is not maintained by the DOT, mysticchildz on Flickr

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in Miscellaneous, News on August 3, 2007 11:38 AM

Comments [rss]

qwerty

Best Gothamist poll in recent memory.

guest

Jesus. With all the shrill fearmongers in this country it's amazing anything gets done around here. We're fucking scared of bridges now?

glennQNYC

Funding our military "stupid?" The only thing that is "stupid" is that comment!

guest

#4 should take a look at option 3 on the poll before spouting nonsense.

Maybe YOU should look at the long term growth of entitlements in this country and what percentage of the federal budget they represent versus the transportation budget. While the Bush tax cuts were ill advised especially with the war in Iraq the "surplus" projections of the Clinton years were ten year projections which conveniently ignored a looming recession in 2001 and more importantly stopped in 2010 which if you do the math is exactly the same year the first Baby Boomers turn 65.

guest

I love the Hank Scorpio episode of the Simpsons when he blows up the Queensboro Bridge and the UN guy says, "Maybe it just fell down on its own."

schmod

The media fails to mention that "structurally deficient" is a pretty broad-reaching definition that more or less means "it'll have to be replaced eventually," NOT that the bridge is in danger of collapsing.

This is sensationalism at its worst. The engineers don't even know what caused that bridge in Minnesota to collapse (it was inspected recently, and there weren't any major problems found with the structural integrity of the bridge).

A one-lane country bridge is considered "structurally deficient" because it can cause traffic jams, and isn't optimal for the flow of traffic. Even at that, there's nothing fundamentally unstable about a one-lane bridge.

guest

structurally deficient?!? I just bought the @&)#ing thing!!!11one

Reality Czech

Well, isn't this the kindof crap people pay tolls for?

JMH

Other than because it's been that way for a long time, I fail to see any reason why there shouldn't be tolls on the free East River crossings to pay for maintenance.

zodak

#4 should take a look at option 3 on the poll before spouting nonsense.

guest

(Isn't this the kind of crap we pay taxes for?)

No, you pay taxes for debt service, public employee pensions, public employee health insurance, and Medicaid. At the federal level, you pay for other senior services such as Social Security and Medicare. (In the suburbs, they also get schools).

guest

"It's been crumbling, and all our bridges have been crumbling, because there has been no revenue base. So it's been bad for us to have those extra 40,000 vehicles pounding the bridge with no revenue stream to maintain the bridge."

Isn't this the kind of crap we pay taxes for?