Kansas Bridges, are they safe?

A few months ago, I mentioned that I had written to our congressmen about our Kansas bridges, about how 21% of them were "structurally deficient" or "functionally obsolete." Dennis Moore is the only person who followed up my letter by writing to KDOT. Today, I got a lengthy letter from Deb Miller, Secretary of Transportation. Here are some excerpts,

"The terms don't indicate that a bridge is likely to collapse or is unsafe for travel. The terms mean that the bridges are aging and require monitoring, repair, maintenance, and possibly repair or replacement in the future."

"A structurally deficient bridge may have one or a combination of obsolete design standards, structural deterioration [!!], or inadequate waterway capacity below it [!!]. These bridges typically require significant maintenance repair to remain in service and will need eventual rehabiliation or replacement to address deficiencies."

"A functionally obsolete bridge is one that no longer meets today's design criteria. In many cases, these bridges are narrower than we would build them today."

"If our inspectors think a bridge is unsafe, it is closed--that very day. Like Mr. Castillo, our families travel on these bridges too."

There was more in the letter, but that's the substance. Of more importance, KDOT has now posted on their website a list--one of the things in my letter that I specifically asked for--of all the bridges that are structurally deficient or obsolete.

That list can be found here:

http://www.ksdot.org/KsBridges/KsBridges.asp

That web page did not exist when I wrote my letter in August. In Douglas County, here is the list of bridges with their safety ratings:

Bridge # Feature Crossed SD/FO Rating
0023-B0001 Mud Creek SD 58
0023-B0003 Access KTA to SB 59 SD 32.4
0023-B0004 NB Access to KTA 59 SD 32.3
0023-B0011 Middle Frk Tauy CR DRG FO 32
0023-B0012 Middle Fork Tauy Creek FO 49
0023-B0014 East Fork Tauy Creek SD 11.5
0023-B0015 West Fork Tauy Creek FO 58.8
0023-B0017 Wakarusa River DrainageSD 21
0023-B0022 US59 HWY FO 51.8
0023-B0081 Kansas River, ATSFRR FO 76.6
0023-B0082 Kansas River, ATSFRR FO 76.6
0023-B0095 Local Road FO 96

SD means Structurally Deficient. FO means Functionally Obsolete. I think I'd definitely avoid Tauy Creek for a while. There is a map on the KDOT website (in a PDF file), but it isn't very easy to use.

B0003 and B0004 are both on the interchange between Iowa & 6th St. near Turnpike.
B0011, B0012, B0014, B0015 are all on Hwy 56 west of Baldwin
B0017 I can't find on the map
B0022 is on Iowa near KU.
B0081 and B0082 are the bridges on 6th street & Mass cross the river to North Lawrence
B0095 is either on K-10 or near K-10 going over the Baldwin creek northwest of Lawrence

Anyway, I'm glad to know what's on the list, and a bit frightened that some of the bridges on the list are ones I know I use.