OLYMPIA – The collapse of a Minneapolis freeway bridge is focusing intense public attention on Washington’s roads and bridges and could boost the prospects of a multibillion-dollar regional tax package this fall, advocates said Friday.
Voters in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties will consider a $17.8 billion “Roads &Transit” package that includes money to help replace one of the state’s biggest bridge concerns: the state Highway 520 Lake Washington floating bridge. The heavily used span is considered at risk of collapsing from wind and wave action in a bad storm.
That bridge, along with the quake-damaged Alaskan Way Viaduct along Seattle’s waterfront, is atop a watch list of endangered spans and elevated highways.
About 5 percent of Washington’s bridges, 381 state and local spans, are considered “structurally deficient” by the Federal Highway Administration. The national average for problem bridges is 12 percent.
Those and thousands of other state and local bridges are regularly inspected. Bridges are a regular part of the highway repair and maintenance budget.
Paula Hammond, acting secretary of the state Department of Transportation, on Friday directed bridge engineers to review all recent inspection reports to see if more detailed scrutiny is warranted.
“Motorist safety is our No. 1 concern, and bridge safety is an important aspect of that, but the incident this week emphasizes the need for continued diligence,” she said in a statement. “It’s important for people to know that we did not wait until this disaster to inspect and maintain our bridges.”
The state’s more than 7,500 bridges – about 3,000 maintained by the state and the rest by local government – are inspected at least every other year; some even more often.
The Transportation Department said Friday that Washington state has 48 steel-truss bridges, the style of construction used in the collapsed Minneapolis bridge.
Crews have inspected 10 of the 26 state-owned steel-truss bridges within the past six months, including Aurora Avenue Bridge in Seattle. The crews inspected 13 others last year. Inspection of the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge in Seattle begins Aug. 18 with the others due for inspection this fall.
The state would like to shut down at least one bridge, the Murray Morgan in Tacoma.
The state has a firm commitment to regular inspections and to financing repair and replacement, said state Senate Transportation Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island.
With the federal government withdrawing from its traditional role of heavily financing bridge and road projects, the state and the Puget Sound region are having to step up, she and other lawmakers said.
Haugen and Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, former chairman of the House Transportation Commission and now Haugen’s vice chairman in the Senate, said the Minnesota tragedy, like the Katrina devastation of the Gulf Coast, is causing average citizens to focus attention on infrastructure.
“I think a lot of people hope it has an impact” on the pending vote on the financing package for Sound Transit and an array of road projects, including the floating bridge, Haugen said.
The money would come from a 0.6 percent increase in the state sales tax and a 0.8 percent tax on car tabs, imposed only in the region getting the projects.
Murray said the chances of passage have “improved 100 percent,” much as the 2005 Katrina experience seemed to turn the tide against a statewide initiative that would have repealed a 91/2-cent-a-gallon increase in the gasoline tax.
“This tragedy reminds people that our own infrastructure is aging and that the money has to come from somewhere. The price tag is huge,” he said in an interview.
At least one poll shows the transportation package passing, but lawmakers have privately viewed it as an uphill climb.
The floating bridge and the accompanying six-lane corridor between I-5 and Interstate-405 could cost more than $4 billion. Construction would be staged, with work on bridge pontoons starting next year and actual bridge construction in 2011-18.
The state has earmarked $560 million for the project and another $1 billion mega-project construction pool could also be tapped. The ballot measure includes $1.1 billion for the 520 project. Tolls are expected, as well.
The Transportation Department was pulling together a list of state bridges with deficiencies.
More than 73,000 of more than 600,000 bridges in America, or about 12 percent, are classified as “structurally deficient.”
That usually means heavy trucks are banned, or there are other weight restrictions, the bridge needs immediate work to stay open, or it is closed. In any case, such a bridge is considered in need of substantial work or replacement.
The Federal Highway Administration calculates that the nation’s bridge repairs would cost at least $55 billion.
The state’s senior U.S. senator, Democrat Patty Murray, hopes to be in a position to help. She’s chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on transportation and is pursuing $40.2 billion in overall federal aid to highways, a $631 million increase over the president’s request.
The bill includes $5 billion for highway bridge replacement, a $900 million increase over current spending.
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