Everett OKs money for bridge test

Published 10:09 pm Thursday, December 25, 2008

EVERETT — The same year the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage, a bridge was constructed in downtown Everett.

For nearly a century, the span on Broadway between Hewitt Avenue and California Street served its purpose, moving people and products over railroad tracks.

Now, 96 years later, the city engineers say the heavily traveled bridge needs to be replaced. Much of its steel is corroded and pieces of its concrete are crumbling.

This week, the Everett City Council approved lab tests of the steel and concrete to determine more accurately the bridge’s structural integrity, and along that line, what steps the city should take to protect the public. The city expects to spend as much as $40,000 on the testing.

“Public safety in terms of keeping the bridge squared away is No. 1,” said Ryan Sass, Everett’s city engineer who asked the council to fund additional tests.

The bridge is not believed to be in immediate danger of collapsing, Sass said. Even so, steps were taken this year to limit weight on the aging structure.

In July, after it flunked a critical safety inspection, Sass placed load restrictions for commercial trucks and eliminated several parking spaces on the shoulders of the bridge.

The bridge just north of Comcast Arena at Everett carries about 30,000 vehicles each day.

Under Federal Highway Administration guidelines, the latest inspection gave the bridge a sufficiency rating of 24.19.

New bridges normally have a sufficiency rating of 100. Bridges with a rating less than 80 are eligible for state rehabilitation money; those rated less than 50 are eligible for replacement funding from the state.

The inspection in July by TranTech Engineering, of Bellevue, reveals the bridge is in far worse condition than what was previously believed.

“Due to the obvious deficiencies with the existing structure and the potential of other unknown, nonobservable critical deficiencies … the only reasonable plan of action is to replace the existing structure with a new one,” Khashayar Nikzad, the TranTech engineer wrote in the state bridge inspection report, obtained by The Herald through a public records request.

Earlier inspections of the bridge concluded that it was in need of rehabilitation, but not replacement. Those inspections were done by a lone building official, not a licensed structural engineer.

Everett scrapped in-house bridge inspections in favor of outside inspectors with more training and better equipment. That came after an onslaught of more stringent federal highway safety rules, and in light of the 2007 tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis that killed 13 people and injured 145.

A bridge has never collapsed in Snohomish or Island counties, according to state records, although at least 70 bridges across Washington since 1923 have failed — most of them washed out in floods.

After this summer’s inspection, the city applied for $5 million in state money to replace the bridge.

Washington cities and counties are seeking more than $100 million to pay for 40 similar bridge projects.

A decision on funding is expected by January.

If Everett can find money, the bridge could be replaced as early as 2010. Any work will mean detours and closed lanes on Broadway.

Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.