How Safe Are North Texas' Bridges?
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A bridge collapse tragedy in Cincinnati, Ohio, late Monday night has investigators wondering what caused it to crash down on a busy interstate.
It was under demolition when it suddenly gave way, killing one contractor and injuring a big rig driver below.
TX-DOT tells CBS 11 News there are 456 state highway bridges in Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, and Collin counties that are eligible for replacement under federal highway standards, but not all of those are deemed structurally deficient. TX-DOT has identified 41 that it will replace in the next five years.
Two important bridges in downtown Dallas are currently being replaced as part of the Horseshoe project: Interstates 30 and 35E over the Trinity River.
Karl Simmons drives his 80,000 pound cement rig all over the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He looks for bridges with wear and tear or other potential troubles. "If a bridge has some bad spots, some wear spots, some potholes then I'll find an alternate route until they get that fixed."
The horseshoe project is a welcome upgrade. He remembers the sudden, deadly collapse of Interate-35 in Minnesota 6-1/2 years ago. "Getting rid of some of the old bridges that need some repair done to them anyway and replace them with the new bridges... I think it'll be a good thing," Simmons told CBS 11 News.
But the Cincinnati collapse showed that even a planned demolition can go tragically awry. Here in North Texas drivers have faced detours for their own safety in a spate of bridge take-downs, backing up traffic for miles. Recently, some along I-35W in Forth Worth or LBJ-Freeway in Dallas.
Both TX-DOT and the Horseshoe construction companies emphasize safety is paramount, even if detours are an inconvenience. But local deliveryman Charles Marshall isn't convinced.
"I don't know if they do think about drivers too much. I think it's more about the building of what they're trying to do. So I don't know if they give too much consideration, as far as the drivers, that's just my personal opinion, " he said.
TX-DOT believes that is simply not the case. And that at the horseshoe, for instance, there will be no demolition above live traffic, which is fine with Simmons. "I'd rather have them close the road down and take an alternate route than to have two lanes closed and them to have to be doing construction and demolition and one lane open. I don't feel comfortable driving on that one lane while they're having demolition on the other two," he said adding, "Stuff might fall."
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