HARRISBURG -- A Democratic House committee chairwoman is upset with Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials for refusing to release numerical inspection scores for 54 steel deck truss bridges in Pennsylvania.

Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, wants state Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler to come before her committee today and explain the numerical scores -- ranging from a low of 0 (meaning very poor condition) to a high of 9 (excellent) -- for each steel truss bridge, the same design used for the Minneapolis Interstate 35W bridge that collapsed last week.

PennDOT has refused to release its internal numerical ratings of the bridges, a step that Ms. Josephs labeled as "paternalistic."

In a letter to Mr. Biehler Friday, she said, "In light of recent developments in Minnesota, the decision of PennDOT to withhold information in such a paternal manner is disturbing."

She said PennDOT apparently is afraid that the motoring public won't understand what the numbers mean and that releasing them might cause "undue concern."

"Where does PennDOT get the legal authority to decide that the public cannot handle certain types of information? PennDOT is not the 'daddy' to make these paternalistic, unilateral decisions; it is the servant that works for the citizens," she wrote.

In general, she said she's found that "the more information that the driving and [transit] riding public has, the smoother things go. There should be no withholding of publicly financed studies, reports, documents, rankings, etc., when matters pertaining to life and death are at stake, as unfortunately is the case in regards to structurally deficient bridges."

PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said yesterday that the ratings of 0 through 9 are "bridge sufficiency numbers, which PennDOT engineers use to monitor the condition of the bridges."

For now, he said, the department considers the sufficiency ratings to be "internal documents," but he added, "that policy is under review."

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, under the state's Right To Know Law, also requested a list of the numerical ratings yesterday. Mr. Kirkpatrick said the department has 10 business days to reply.

Ms. Josephs' letter seeking Mr. Biehler's presence at the State Government Committee meeting didn't reach PennDOT until late Friday, Mr. Kirkpatrick said. The secretary's schedule for today was filled, so he won't be able to be there, but he might send a representative.

Ms. Josephs said the State Government Committee is working to make more state documents open to citizens and the media. She wants to reverse the state government's longtime presumption that most records are closed to the public unless a citizen successfully argues that they should be open.

She said the presumption should be for openness of records, including the numerical ratings of the 54 bridges on the scale of 0 to 9. She said PennDOT's position "should be revisited in the interest of the safety of all motorists who travel across bridges in this state."

The issue of the conditions of the steel deck truss bridges is of particular interest to Allegheny County, because it has 21 of 54 such bridges in the state.

Of the 21, seven belong to PennDOT; five belong to Allegheny County; five belong to the city of Pittsburgh; two belong to the city of Clairton; one bridge on the turnpike belongs to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and one belongs to Pittsburgh & Lake Erie railroad.

Only three of the 21 bridges -- the P&LE span and two of the county-owned bridges -- are listed as being "structurally deficient." According to PennDOT, a label of structurally deficient means a bridge is still safe, but needs costly repairs or a full replacement to bring it up to current bridge standards. The two deficient county-owned bridges are the Rankin Bridge and a bridge at Center Street and O'Connell Boulevard in North Braddock.

On Friday, Mr. Biehler said PennDOT will reinspect all 54 steel deck truss bridges, no matter who owns them, by the end of November.