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Several Bridges Get Low Ratings

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 18, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - As the state's Department of Transportation prepares to replace an aging bridge in southeast Pasco County, a recently released report shows that about 10 percent of the county's bridges are considered substandard or structurally unsound.

Many of those bridges carry thousands of vehicles every day along stretches of Interstate 75. The most notable one, however, sits at the heart of New Port Richey and carries Main Street over the Pithlachascotee River.

The 41-year-old Main Street bridge carries a rating of "functionally obsolete" after its latest biannual review by DOT's corps of bridge inspectors. Nine other bridges, including four on Interstate 75, have the same designation.

The list of functionally obsolete interstate bridges includes the twin bridges carrying I-75 over County Road 54 in Wesley Chapel. They're scheduled for replacement starting in January, said DOT spokeswoman Kris Carson.

Two other bridges are deemed structurally deficient, meaning they are candidates for replacement. One of those bridges - on State Road 39 in Crystal Springs - is slated to be replaced next year. The other carries Chancey Road across New River west of Zephyrhills and serves about 101 cars a day. It's unclear when it will be replaced.

The same DOT report shows the bulk of Pasco's 91 bridges are structurally sound, but dozens are either beyond or nearing the 50-year window in which they were designed to operate.

Modern bridges are made to last 75 years or more, Garcia said.

As population growth has put more traffic on the county's roads, many of the aging bridges are seeing more use than ever - a factor that could speed their demise if that traffic includes heavy trucks.

A designation of functionally obsolete means a bridge is outdated or out of sync with the road serving it, said Pepe Garcia, district structural maintenance engineer for DOT's Tampa and Bartow offices.

That designation used to be the first step toward replacing a bridge, but that's no longer the case, Garcia said.

"Obviously, there are some bridges out there that have stood the test of time," he said.

Regular maintenance also extends the life of aging bridges, Garcia pointed out.

Such is the case with the Main Street bridge, which gets a high rating on its structural integrity in spite of being labeled obsolete.
New Port Richey City Manager Tom O'Neill said the bridge is the county's responsibility and that the city and county haven't spoken about replacing it or upgrading it.

"While the Main Street bridge may have been declared functionally obsolete by the DOT, I am not aware of any defects that would require the bridge to be declared unsafe," O'Neill said recently.

The volume and speed of heavy truck traffic on a bridge are the largest factors influencing DOT's decision to replace it as it ages, Garcia said.

Nearly 2,000 trucks a day use the bridge on S.R. 39 in Crystal Springs - an important factor in the decision to replace it even though it's about 40 years younger than the neighboring bridge on Crystal Springs Road, Garcia said.

New Port Richey's Main Street bridge carries 10,000 vehicles a day, with roughly 2 percent of those being trucks, according to county estimates. By comparison, the I-75 bridges in Wesley Chapel carry more than 12,000 trucks a day, about 15 percent of their total traffic volume.

With the impact of truck traffic in mind, DOT is re-examining the two-lane bridge on Crystal Springs Road, which may become a detour route for two local companies while the S.R. 39 bridge is out.
Crystal Springs residents worry that any additional truck traffic could harm the bridge. Garcia said the bridge is strong enough to handle trucks, but increasing the traffic for an extended period of time could change that.

"We don't see at this particular point that we have problems with that bridge," Garcia said. "But if it's more exposed to truck traffic for a long time, that could cause problems."

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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