Lift Bridge Stays Stationary for Safety Inspection
Published in: Duluth News-Tribune (Duluth, Minn.)
Date: 10/12/2007
One of the coldest jobs in Duluth on Thursday was performed by Dan Flittie of Minneapolis who, as the wind and rain blew, bobbed up and down in a small motorboat beneath the Aerial Lift Bridge. He was there in case any of the bridge inspectors fell from their small buckets above.
The bridge will stay down — affecting boat traffic through the Duluth ship canal — between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. today, and possibly Monday and Tuesday, as inspectors search for cracks, corrosion or large missing pieces that might show the bridge is in disrepair. Road traffic will be limited to one lane during the inspections.
The inspection comes by order of Gov. Tim Pawlenty who, after the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, wanted all the state’s “fracture-critical” bridges — those that have load-bearing steel that, if it failed, could collapse — to receive an in-depth inspection by Dec. 1.
Tom Moorer and his five-man inspection team started examining the bridge early Thursday, using two large aerial cranes to weave through the outside of the bridge and look beneath, examining just about every inch for any problems.
The early results, according to Moorer?
“From what I’ve seen, this bridge is in good shape,” he said.
That’s no surprise to Ryan Beamer, the lift bridge supervisor, who said the Minnesota Department of Transportation did a full inspection of the bridge in 2005 and gave it a clean bill of health. The bridge also was given a lighter inspection last year by city engineers, who Beamer said found it to be structurally sound.
Moorer said he and his team also will climb to the top to look for problems, and will raise the bridge for about 20 minutes today to look for areas that inspectors otherwise couldn’t get to, as well as to examine the lifting equipment.
“We’ll try to do it during a time that won’t affect rush hour,” he said.
While the bridge is scheduled to be closed to boat traffic until Tuesday, Moorer said his crew probably will have the inspection finished by late today. When MnDOT inspected the bridge in 2005, Beamer said, it took their crew only a day. He said more time is needed this year because Moorer’s company, PB, which is inspecting the bridges on a contract basis for MnDOT, is unfamiliar with the lift bridge.
“There’s somewhat of a learning curve for them,” he said.
Vista Fleet boats on Thursday occasionally floated a few hundred feet from the bridge, appearing to be waiting for the bridge to rise. But Arnie Martin, Vista Fleet’s operations manager, said he had received notice the bridge was closed, and his boat was just facing the bridge to provide narration on its history. When the bridge is closed or the weather makes the lake too turbulent, he said, the boats simply don’t go over to Lake Superior.
“This time of season that’s really not a big deal,” he said.
This week’s closure to boat traffic, Beamer said, is just a warmup for long shut-down periods likely from Jan. 2 to March 20, 2008, when the bridge is scheduled to undergo painting and minor repairs, and again from December 2008 to March 2009. During those times, Beamer said, traffic on the bridge would go down to one lane again, but he didn’t know when or how long that would be.