Sunday, June 23, 2013

But seriously . . . Is the bridge falling apart?


Last week, inspectors checked the underside of the Veterans' Memorial Bridge from various points on land and water. They hammered at the location shown above and dislodged concrete, shown below.

The area within the caution tape and sawhorses in the background contains concrete fragments that had previously fallen from the bridge.  Closer views of the fragments can be seen HERE.

Concrete has also fallen from the bridge at other areas, including near the arches close to Rotary Park.



Re-bar is visible overhead at some locations where concrete has broken off.


Concrete has broken off at some of the bridge supports, also.

Networks of cracks are visible on the sides of several support piers.

Road salt is stored under a few of the arches.  Could it be accelerating erosion of the concrete above it?

 On the upper side of the bridge, steel cover plates are missing from large junction boxes containing electrical wiring. The boxes line the sidewalk that runs from Columbia to Wrightsville.

 Cover plates are missing from many recessed compartments in the side of the bridge, along the sidewalk.  These compartments, also, contain electrical wires that most likely feed bridge lamps.

 Some of the junction boxes show signs of possible prying, as shown here and below.  The boxes have  also become convenient trash receptacles.


 More exposed wiring

Damage is apparent on the Columbia and Wrightsville ends of the bridge, as well as at several points in between.  The bridge is under PennDOT's jurisdiction, but its current condition will undoubtedly reflect negatively on the river towns of Columbia and Wrightsville during the upcoming 150th anniversary of the burning of the Civil War bridge.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It would be a terrible shame to lose an historic treasure. It is time to close this bridge to motor vehicles and use it for pedestrians and bicycles. This however would place too many extra vehicles on the route 30 bridge (also in poor repair).

Joe Lintner said...

Right. It's time to close it down to heavy vehicles.

Anonymous said...

It will be very interesting to hear the findings of the bridge inspectors...will it be deemed safe?

Anonymous said...

They said someone has to get hurt or get killed , then they will repair the bridge!

Joe Lintner said...

Who said it?

Stinky said...

Concrete sure does burn slowly.