Late inspections of bridges put travelers at risk

'Two years' doesn't mean 24 months
Several states have redefined the concept of lateness, apparently with federal acquiescence.

In Maine, when Gov. John E. Baldacci announced in August that all bridges are inspected "every two years," his statement didn't mention that state records showed 86 bridges had not gotten that timely checkup.

Maine transportation officials said they had been considering a bridge as "on time" if it was inspected during the same calendar year as its due date. So a bridge inspected in January 2005 became past due, under the federal rules, in January 2007, but Maine wouldn't consider it late until a full year later, when the calendar turned over to January 2008.

Baldacci also appointed a task force to study the state's bridge program. Its recommendations were announced in November, including this one: The state should start inspecting its bridges every 24 months. Just as federal regulations require.

Why hadn't the state been following the rules? "We just continued to operate the way we have," said Ben Foster, assistant bridge maintenance engineer for the Maine Department of Transportation.

Besides, he said, the state's program was recertified each year by the Federal Highway Administration. "We got nothing from them saying you must comply now."

Maine was by no means the only state to boast incorrectly of two-year inspections. In the days after the Minneapolis collapse, nearly every state department of transportation put out a similar press release.

The national association of transportation officials gave them the language: "States carefully examine every bridge at least once every two years," said a statement in August by Jerome F. Williams, chairman of the public affairs committee of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and director of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, which in April had submitted records showing one in four bridges not meeting that test.

The association no longer makes that claim. After an interview Monday with msnbc.com, the association amended Williams' statement on its Web site. Now it says, "Except where federal exemptions are granted, states are required to inspect bridges on the National Bridge Inventory at least once every two years."

Uninspected bridges are not necessarily dangerous, the association said in a press release this week. "Even if an inspection falls outside the 24-month period, that alone is not an indication that the bridge is unsafe for public travel, or cause for public alarm.  States take immediate action on bridges with critical needs."

In New Mexico, Gov. Bill Richardson, then a presidential candidate, said in a press release that bridges are inspected "every two years." His state had reported 636 bridges that hadn't been checked within two years.

And in Ohio, the Department of Transportation reassured the public: "Ohio law requires that every bridge in the state be inspected every year."

The press release didn't mention that the state's records showed 2,068 Ohio bridges overdue for that inspection.

Taking responsibility
Texas officials say they take to heart their responsibility for every bridge within the state's borders. Because many counties are too poor to do the inspections, the state Department of Transportation does it for them.

"We inspect every bridge with rubber tire traffic over it," said department spokesman Chris Lippincott. "The public on the highway doesn't give a damn whose bridge it is."

State officials in Kansas, which has more than 130 local governments inspecting bridges, say they need to find a better way, perhaps taking over more of the inspections. After the Minneapolis collapse, the Kansas Department of Transportation started discussions with cities and towns. The price: A change might require holding back some highway money that has been passed down. A task force is scheduled to start meeting in February.

U.S. Department of Transportation Failed concrete on a bridge.

"We're not doing what we should be doing to comply with the federal law," said Jerry T. Younger, Kansas deputy secretary for engineering.

"And, frankly, not doing what we can to reassure the public about the safety of the bridges."

Although the National Bridge Inspection Standards require every bridge to be inspected at least every 24 months, states can get permission to extend the schedules for certain types of bridges, such as newer bridges in excellent condition.

About half of the 17,000 bridges that were reported going past 24 months between inspections may have such permission. Those 8,314 bridges are listed by their states on schedules longer than 24 months, but the records also show that thousands of these bridges violate federal guidelines for such lax treatment, because they are too deteriorated, too old or too busy to qualify for delayed inspections.

The federal highway administrator, J. Richard Capka, would not agree to an interview about bridge inspections. A spokeswoman for the Federal Highway Administration, Nancy Singer, said Capka would not talk because twin investigations are under way, by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation as well as the federal Government Accountability Office, to determine whether bridge inspections and funding are adequate, and because the investigation of the Minneapolis collapse is continuing.

BACKGROUNDER Documents with this series You can read about bridge safety in these PDF files: Golden Gate Bridge inspection report Sample bridge inspection report from Kansas National Bridge Inspection Standards NTSB recommendations from Minneapolis probe

Singer also said that the National Bridge Inventory isn't used to monitor inspections but exists primarily to hand out federal highway money to fix the neediest bridges. The real work of monitoring inspections is done by highway administration staff working around the country, using the live data kept by states. But she said that the information in the National Bridge Inventory is extracted from those working databases, so if a bridge was reported overdue in the national file, it was overdue in the local file, too.

Several state transportation officials said in interviews that, although they want to do the right thing, there’s not enough money to inspect all the bridges on time. They don't lack for staff — in response to msnbc.com's questions, every state said it has sufficient inspectors, when counting outside contractors. But some said they lack for money to pay those contractors and supervise all the counties and communities that own bridges.

"It is a function of funding, ultimately," said David Severns, the assistant chief structures engineer for Nevada, one of a handful of states with a perfect record.

"I don't think there's anybody who gets up in the morning and says, 'I want to have unsafe bridges.'

"My wife and my kids drive over other people's bridges, too."

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