County Bridges Update 2007
Following the tragedy of the Highway I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota, many questions have arisen regarding the state of the bridges across our nation. While Public Works does not maintain any bridges with construction akin to I-35W, it is important that the public have a clear sense of the county-maintained bridge network in Josephine County.
The Public Works Department is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of nearly 200 bridges within Josephine County. This group of structures runs a very broad spectrum. From the nearly two dozen bridges with less than 10 feet in total deck length, to the 364’ long Finch Road Bridge over the Illinois River. These bridges also vary greatly in age. The county’s oldest bridge is the historical ‘covered bridge’ in Sunny Valley. While the load-bearing components of the bridge were rebuilt just 8 years ago, some parts of the non-weight-bearing structure date back to 1920. On the ‘new’ end of the spectrum is the fully-reconstructed Holland Loop Road Bridge over Upper Sucker Creek – scheduled for completion in the fall of 2007.
While there has been virtually zero new bridge construction taking place in Josephine County for many years now, bridge rehabilitation/reconstruction is a cornerstone of the Public Works annual maintenance program. There are many keys to a successful bridge maintenance program. The most important component to maintaining a bridge system is frequent evaluations of each bridge’s overall condition. All county bridges over 20 feet in length are thoroughly inspected by state-certified experts on a biennial basis and those under 20 feet are inspected on a maximum of a 5 year cycle. These inspections include: assessments of the decking, support structure, foundations, and the wear and tear on materials - steel, concrete, and wood.
By identifying necessary bridge work early, Public Works is able to not only maximize safety, but also keep year-over-year bridge maintenance expenses more predictable and uniform. Given the number of bridges in Josephine County, and their continued aging through the normal course of wear, Public Works can expect to replace an average of 2 or 3 bridges per year. In addition to the undertaking repairs when they become necessary. Deferring maintenance can also lead to more expensive/intrusive fixes further down the road. By addressing problems as they arise, solutions can be made safer, quicker and more cost-efficient.
Replacing a bridge can be an extremely expensive proposition. The aforementioned Upper Sucker Creek Bridge will come with a total cost of over $3 million for design, environmental permitting, construction and construction engineering. By comparison, Public Works’ annual new revenue, including $1.9M of O&C funds, is about $7 million. One significant bridge replacement can easily equate to more than one-third of our annual budget!
Fortunately, there are two significant programs available to lessen the burden of bridge replacement costs on the county. The Federal Highway Bridge Project (HBP) and the Oregon Transportation Investment Act (OTIA). Under these programs, counties submit bridges to the Local Agency Bridge Selection Committee (LABSC) for funding consideration. The LABSC ranks the bridges based on a number of criteria, including: sufficiency rating. When a bridge is selected by the LABSC for HBP funding, Josephine County is then responsible for approximately 10% of the total cost of the bridge replacement. Bridges selected for OTIA funding are 100% funded at the state level. This formula allows Public Works to leverage a relatively small amount of local funds to complete large capital projects.
As always, please do not hesitate to call our Department at 474-5460 with any additional bridge, or road, question.
For a complete list of Josephine County maintained bridges, please see the 'BridgeList8-07.pdf' link below. This list is comprised of Josephine County Bridges as recognized by the National Bridge Inventory. Under NBI criteria, bridges must be 20' or more in length. Under 20' in length is considered a 'structure'.
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