States Respond Quickly to Bridge Disasters
Iowa 24 Bridge near Fort Atkinson.
Photo courtesy of Iowa Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
When a bridge failure halts traffic and disrupts lives, states time and again have responded with speed and ingenuity to restore lives back to normal.
The MacArthur Maze, California
At 3:42 a.m. on Sunday, April 29, 2007, the driver of a tanker, truck carrying 8,600 gallons of fuel lost control on a freeway overpass in Oakland, California, and the vehicle flipped onto its side and exploded. Flames shot hundreds of feet into the air—engulfing the roadway deck above the burning vehicle. As temperatures in the inferno soared, the deck section buckled and fell.
Damage to MacArthur Maze overpass.
Photo courtesy of Caltrans.
The overpass was part of a freeway complex that leads to and from the heavily used San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. When word of the overpass closure reached area commuters, they were sure that months of congestion lay ahead as the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) restored the damaged roadway.
Not only the fire-destroyed section—known as the 580 connector—but also the roadway it crashed onto, the Highway 880 connector, had to be checked for safety and possible reconstruction. Later on the day of the wreck, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made a declaration of emergency that allowed the use of streamlined contracting and environmental procedures. Officials estimated that it would take 50 days to reopen the 580 connector.
Twenty-six days later, the section was back in service—thanks to Caltrans’ immediate response, and use of incentives to bring in a contractor who recognized that for the driving public, time was money. The San Francisco Chronicle named Caltrans Director Will Kempton, “California’s best new hire of the 21st Century.”
Caltrans set an outside deadline for reconstruction of June 26, then promised a bonus of $200,000—to be capped at $5 million—for every day earlier than that date that the project was brought to completion. Although bids on the project ran as high as $6.4 million, the job was awarded to C.C. Myers Inc., which put in a bid for $867,075—the lowest bid—and won the full $5 million bonus by getting the work done so quickly.
Missouri Replaces Jefferson Street Bridge in 37 Days
On November 27, 2007, a fiery tanker crash and explosion near the Jefferson Street Bridge on U.S. route 54 Eastbound closed one of three major arteries in Central Missouri. A detour was established immediately. Within two days, damaged signs, pavement, striping and guardrail that had been damaged by the extreme heat from the fuel fire were replaced.
But the bridge suffered major damage—warped bridge railings, severe damage to concrete, fractures in underdeck and columns. On November 29, the decision was made to replace the structure. That same day design plans were started for the new bridge and were completed in six calendar days. On December 5, eight days after the explosion, an emergency contract was awarded to the Pace Construction Company of St. Louis, with incentives to encourage completion by January 7, 2008. Total project cost $1.2 million.
Construction began on December 7 and on January 3, four days ahead of schedule, the bridge was opened. Missouri DOT Director Pete Rahn said, “The challenge that was given to (our contractor) and our team at MoDOT was that we wanted this bridge repaired in an unreasonably fast time. And that’s exactly what they’ve accomplished.”
Tankers ablaze after a collision and explosion near the Jefferson Street Bridge in Central Missouri.
Photo courtesy of Missouri Department of Transportation.
Reconstruction of the Interstate 40 Bridge in Webber Falls, Oklahoma after it was damaged by a runaway barge.
Photo courtesy of Missouri Department of Transportation.
Oklahoma Interstate 40 Bridge Opens in Record Time
On May 26, 2002, the Interstate 40 Bridge at Webbers Falls, Oklahoma was destroyed when an Arkansas River barge went off course and struck its support columns. Each day the bridge was out of service cost the regional economy $430,000. Traffic had to be detoured 57 miles eastbound and 12 miles westbound, and motorists several states away were warned to avoid the area.
Getting the bridge back in service would normally have taken six months. Instead, Oklahoma DOT Director Gary Ridley recognized the urgency of restoring service, and used an incentive contract to get the bridge back in service just 65 days after it was struck and 47 days after construction began. U.S. Secretary Mary Peters at the ceremony dedicating the newly opened bridge stated, “I salute the people in the public and private sectors who worked so hard to restore this vital link in America’s transportation system in record time.”
Each of these examples demonstrates the critical role bridges play in daily commuting and commerce and the urgency of restoring failed or damaged structures. When put to the test, state departments of transportation and their contractors delivered.
