City And State Bridges Are Safe (For Now)

Earlier this week, Governor Spitzer said that a quick review of the state's bridges showed that all are basically safe, including ones with similar designs to Minneapolis' I-35. However, some bridges, such as the Brooklyn Bridge, rated low on a 7 point scale (7 being the safest) for safety. Still, Spitzer touted the fact that this year's budget added another $900 million to the $18.8 billion infrastructure plan.

But now that the NTSB are investigating whether gussets in I-35 may have been defective, the NY State Department of Transportation is trying to figure out what to do. Many bridges do have gussets, but it's unclear which have gussets like I-35. A DOT spokesperson said, "It's another thing we may be looking at but we really want to make sure we are focusing our resources on something that's truly a safety concern."

The MTA also announced some new restrictions for trucks on the Throgs Neck Bridge, to reduce wear and tear. Previously, trucks weighing 105,000 pounds could drive on the center lane at any time, but now the legal bridge limit will be back at 80,000 pounds.

Photograph of the Throgs Neck, from the Queens side, by many highways

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By Jen Chung in News on August 10, 2007 4:10 PM

Comments [rss]

robingee

Heck, if you ban SUVs on the Brooklyn Bridge how will all of those entitled Cadillac Escalade and Hummer owners get home to Bklyn?? After all, they deserve to drive these behemoths, it's their right as a proud American!

guest

The MTA is taking care of the bridge infrastructure in NYC? We're doomed!

Yes, not just light trucks, but heavy trucks, the tractor trailor kind. Used to be banned in NYC and are now happily ruining our bridges and roads. Two days ago one nearly ran over a cyclist-- the truck was rolling through a red light and blocking the crosswalk on the west side hwy. They have no business being in Manhattan!

guest

for a start, why don't they start enforcing the ban on light trucks and suvs on the the brooklyn bridge?

robingee

The Tappan Zee has been rated unsafe for years and they are still "thinking" about what to do with it. There are six plans on the table. Pick one! Even if you have to do it Simpsons-movie style.

pik

yeah, minneapolis was deemed safe too.

public's sense of security would be stronger if we'd see immediate closures (or partial closures of lanes to reduce weight) on bridges that were rated low.

my sense of security is not enhansed by Spitzer's casual "basically safe" remark.

you're on your own out there, folks.

guest

This shouldn't really come as a surprise. Every bridge in the country is inspected every two years, reports are written, ratings assigned. At the moment they still don't know for sure what the collapse mechanism was, or it's trigger, so what could they possibly be looking for that they weren't looking for last time they checked it?

Calling for inspections right after the collapse was just to calm down a bunch of irrational people who don't really understand what is going on in the first place. Big ole waste o money.