A bridge too weakNew York, Vermont governors: Champlain Bridge beyond saving
The state of New York saved $10,000 by not performing an ultrasound signals test on the 80-year old Champlain Bridge, which connects New York and Vermont; without the test, the New York Department of Transportation was unaware of how pervasive the rot in the bridge’s piers has become; experts concluded last week that the bridge cannot be saved, and will have to be demolished and replaced; the cost of a new bridge is estimated at $50 million; the economic damage to the communities involved is incalculable
The 80-year-old Champlain Bridge, closed suddenly last month after the state found the concrete piers were rotting, is on the verge of collapse and too far gone to be saved, officials in New York and Vermont said Monday. There is “no choice but to tear down the dangerously deteriorated bridge” and replace it, said Governor David Paterson.
The state Department of Transportation has released no budget for a new bridge, although the office of state Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury), has indicated the project could cost $50 million.
Paterson joined with Vermont governor Jim Douglas to announce that emergency inspections of the bridge done since its abrupt 16 October closure found imminent danger of “sudden, potentially catastrophic, bridge failure,” only four years after the state last inspected its five underwater support piers and found no cause to make immediate repairs.
Times Union’s Brian Nearing writes that during those four years, however, the amount of rotted concrete at the waterline on the worst of the 10-foot-thick piers went from 10 inches to 3 feet, according to the state Transportation Department. DOT routinely inspects underwater bridge supports every five years, unlike the above-water superstructure of bridges, which are inspected every two years.
Rot in the piers, which rest on footings at the bottom on the lake, is now so pervasive that any workers near it would be in great danger, according to a joint statement from Paterson and Douglas. “Now that the analysis is completed and the bridge has been found unstable, we can work quickly to demolish the existing bridge and accelerate the process for building a permanent replacement,” said Stanley Gee, acting commissioner of the New York State Transportation Department.
A national expert on bridge failure told the Times Union on Sunday that the deterioration in the piers could have been detected earlier had the state used a $10,000 test that relies on ultrasonic signals to measure the overall strength of concrete. The state had been relying on visual inspections by divers, who measured cracks and deterioration on the piers’ surface.
The states’ decision to demolish the historic bridge relies on an engineering study from national firm HNTB, which has offices in New York City. A copy of the report was not available for review, but Marissa Shorenstein, a Paterson spokeswoman, said a copy would be posted at the DOT Web site later this week.
According to the report’s executive summary provided in the news release, “If any major cracks were to develop diagonally in the pier, or deterioration reduces the contact bearing area between concrete segments, the pier could fail without warning. The risk and safety for personnel working in close proximity to the existing, fragile bridge is too great to permit rehabilitation in any form.”
The loss of the bridge has hurt businesses and affected lives on both sides of Lake Champlain, where about 4,000 cars a day use the bridge. Ferry service has been stepped up, although some people are making a 75-mile one-way detour through Whitehall in Washington County.
Both governors announced that additional ferry service will be established near the existing bridge as “quickly as possible.”
