UDOT official deems Utah's bridges 'safe'

LAYTON — The fatal bridge collapse in Minneapolis Aug. 1 has spurred Utah to take a look at its own 2,800 bridges, one of which has the same design as the one that collapsed, killing 11 people.

But that bridge, which crosses the Bear River to an electrical substation northeast of Tremonton, is rarely used and poses little danger, according to the Utah Department of Transportation.

The Utah Transportation Commission received a similar report on the rest of the state's bridges from James McMinimee, UDOT's director of project development.

"Our bridges are safe," he told the commission Friday during an update on the state's program for inspecting bridges.

The seven-member commission, appointed by the governor, serves as the programming board for UDOT.

McMinimee told the commission that to replace every bridge in the state would cost $8 billion to $9 billion.

That means the state is fortunate to have 94 percent of its bridges in good or fair condition.

And even though 6 percent of the state's bridges have a poor rating, they aren't in danger of failure or collapse, McMinimee said.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. ordered UDOT to begin an immediate inspection of the state's 200 most critical bridges shortly after the Minneapolis bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River.

Two bodies were recovered from the river Thursday, leaving two people unaccounted for. Crews work around the clock to remove debris from the site.

Following the collapse in Minneapolis, Butch Waidelich, a U.S. Federal Highway Administration official for Utah, said that, like Huntsman, he too was concerned about Utah's bridges.

But after asking a lot of questions, Waidelich said, he feels comfortable.

"I can honestly say Utah has an excellent inspection program," he said, noting that Utah inspectors get "up close and personal" with bridges they inspect.

"I have confidence that the bridges in this state are safe," he said.

After Huntsman ordered inspections for the 200 bridges, UDOT executive director John Njord expanded the inspection list to include those known as "fracture-critical" bridges.

Fracture-critical bridges are those that don't have redundancy, or backup features, built into them.

"If one element fails, the bridge has the possibility of failing in the manner the bridge in Minneapolis did," he said.

Utah has 100 such bridges, McMinimee said, adding that most of them are older bridges. About half are state-owned, and the other half are locally owned. When the state builds a bridge now, it includes redundancies so if one part fails, the whole bridge doesn't go down, he said.