Rendell: State's bridges reasonably safe
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HARRISBURG -- Gov. Ed Rendell said today the Pennsylvania motorists can have "a reasonable degree of confidence" that bridges in the state are safe to drive across, but said he can't give an absolute guarantee that a bridge collapse, such as happened in Minnesota yesterday, will never happen here.
He said Pennsylvania leads the nation in the number of bridges classified as "structurally deficient," with 5,900 of its 25,000 state-owned bridges in that category. The state also has the highest number of spans that are 75 years old or older, he said.
But being listed as structurally deficient doesn't mean a bridge is unsafe to drive over, he said. It means that the bridge is put on "a watch list'' and must be inspected at least once a year, and sometimes two or three times a year, to ensure safety.
When warranted, the state will close or put weight limits on weight restrict a deficient bridge. Bridges that aren't listed as deficient are usually inspected every two years, he said.
In a conference call from Philadaelphia with reporters from around the state, the governor said motorists can have "a reasonable amount of certainty" about safety when they cross a bridge.
But he added, "Of course I can't say there is no chance of such a tragedy as happened in Minnesota."
He stressed that he doesn't yet know the exact cause of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, which had a "truss'' design. He said there are about 30 to 40 truss bridges in Pennsylvania but said it's too soon to know if any of them might show whatever problems the Minneapolis bridge might have had.
He said state Department of Transportation officials are well aware of the large amount of work that must be done to improve state bridges. That is why he pushed this spring -- unsuccessfully -- for a program to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to produce about $900 million a year more for road and bridge improvements.
That spending would have been on top of the $570 million spent in 2006 just on bridge repairs, a figure that was up from $258 million five years ago, he said.
Instead of approving his plan to lease the turnpike, however, the Legislature approved a smaller plan. It's based on selling bonds of almost $1 billion a year for improvements to roads, bridges and mass transit systems. The borrowing will be done by the Turnpike Commission and PennDOT. The bonds are to be paid off using higher tolls from the turnpike and new tolls placed on Interstate 80.
The Legislature-approved plan will raise, in the current 2007-08 fiscal year, $450 million for roads and bridges and an additional $300 million for mass transit improvements. That figure will rise to $850 million in 2008-09 ($500 million for roads/bridges and $350 million for transit) and will eventually reach about $950 million a year starting in 2011.
Two congressmen, Phil English, R-Erie, and John Peterson, R-Venango, are fighting the state's efforts to put tolls on I-80. Mr. Rendell said, when asked if the Minnesota bridge collapse might cause the congressmen to drop their opposition to the transportation funding plan, "You'd have to ask them about that. But it should make all of us cognizant of the need to repair transportation."
Mr. Rendell also called on the federal government to increase the amount it supplies for transportation improvements in all 50 states. He suggested the federal officials institute a "federal capital budget" for improvements for roads, bridges and transit and also for necessary improvements to water and sewer lines. He noted that Alcosan in the Pittsburgh area needs $8 billion in sewer line upgrades and said the federal government should supply much of that.
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
First Published August 2, 2007 2:33 pm
