Bridge
safety — a New York priorityBy DEBORAH A. MILES
When national news broke about the Minnesota bridge collapse in August, people wondered how something like that could happen and if it could happen elsewhere.
When Mark Lippolis, a NYS civil engineer, heard the news, he wondered if consultants inspected the I-34W bridge that plummeted into the Mississippi River.
While Lippolis and other civil engineers don’t know the cause of the Minnesota bridge collapse, they feel confident New York bridges are among the safest in the country.
Lippolis is a PEF Division 227 member at the NYS Department of Transportation (DOT) and an assistant team leader for bridge inspections in PEF Region 5, which covers six counties in the Binghamton area.
FROM EVERY ANGLE — John Meehan inspects a bridge on the Long Island Expressway. — Photo by Anthony Gicala
“We take pride in what we do,” Lippolis said. “State workers are very thorough. Consultants are not as vested in a project as we are.”
A bridge inspection entails an evaluation, condition score and documentation of up to 47 bridge elements by a bridge inspector. Bridges are also analyzed to determine their capacity to carry vehicular loads.
Statewide
jobDOT is responsible for ensuring the inspection of approximately 17,375 highway bridges. It began inspecting bridges in the 1930s and, in 1977, the state Legislature charged DOT with this responsibility.
“We are the stewards of the state’s roads and bridges,” said Michael Kranbuhl, a bridge inspection team leader, civil engineer 2 and PEF Division 227 member.
BINGHAMTON — Members of the press interview Regional Director Jack Williams (center) about bridge safety in NY as PEF members/DOT engineers Frank Ryan and Jim Kabanek look on. — Photo by Mark Lippolis
In New York, bridges are rated on a one-to-seven scale. Most bridges are routinely inspected every two years, but if a bridge meets other criteria, such as limiting or reducing the weight it can hold, it receives an annual inspection, according to Kranbuhl.
Experience, education
PEF member John Meehan, a civil engineer 2, works on Long Island.
“I’m inspecting bridges my dad helped build on the Long Island Expressway,” Meehan said.
With more than 700 bridges in Meehan’s DOT region, which includes Nassau and Suffolk counties, Meehan inspects nearly 100 bridges a year.
He’s an 18-year veteran with DOT who said the engineers make certain all bridges are inspected following state and federal mandates.
“New York is one of the few states in the nation that requires a licensed professional engineer to head the inspection team,” Meehan said.
Job experience is needed to acquire a professional engineer’s license — a two-exam process that spans several years to reach the status of civil engineer 2.
Meehan said DOT hosts annual seminars on specific inspection issues.
“Last year, we focused on fatigue and brittle fractures in bridge structures. These seminars keep us well-trained,” he said.
Safety costs
Lou Ferrone, PEF statewide labor-management chair for DOT, said the safety of New Yorkers is a priority and comes with a hefty price tag.
“DOT spent an average of approximately $600 million annually on bridge improvement and maintenance during the last five years,” Ferrone said. “This includes bridge replacement, rehabilitation, design, construction inspection, maintenance, safety inspection and safety assurance.”
Although bridge safety is the number one concern among the engineers, a PEF Executive Board Member for DOT, Charles Kelefant, said, “Over the past decade, the state DOT has lost more than 1,100 engineering positions, replacing them with more costly contractors — many hired to do routine inspections. This year, the Spitzer administration has begun to replace contract engineers with state employee engineers, but DOT still has more than 700 vacant engineering positions.
“The most efficient way to inspect state bridges is with state employees. The millions of dollars saved can be used to fix our bridges in the most need of repair,” Kelefant said.