Chunk tumbles from I-80 bridge
Lanes near 600 East closed while crews repair road
The concrete chunk, about 11 feet long and 1 inch thick, fell from the eastbound bridge over 600 East. It exposed a portion of the bridge's rebar support structure and caused some pieces of the rebar to snap, weakening the strength of the bridge.
Two lanes of I-80 and the portion of 600 East under the bridge were closed to accommodate work crews from around 5 p.m. Sunday until about 4:15 p.m. Monday.
Fixes to the bridge should make it safe for motorists, according to engineers with the Utah Department of Transportation. Crews spent much of Monday installing a heavy scaffolding to support the part of the bridge where the concrete fell.
The scaffolding will be a temporary fix until UDOT does a $40 million reconstruction of I-80 between State Street and 1300 East. The reconstruction will begin in 2008.
"This will guarantee the safety of the corridor," said Randy Park, director of UDOT Region 2, which covers Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele Counties. "This is just a safety precaution."
UDOT has long maintained that it has limited dollars to repair aging and deteriorating bridges across the state, which is why parts of the bridges over I-80 are crumbling. Last year, a chunk of concrete fell from the I-80 bridge over Highland Drive, requiring at least two days of repairs.
"The bottom line is, the state has billions upon billions of needs in transportation, and as long as these bridges are not a public-safety hazard, we'll make do as best as we can to maintain their integrity," said UDOT spokesman Nile Easton. "Sometimes it takes small fixes like this to get by for another year."
Of the 1,850 bridges maintained by the state, about 3 percent are in bad condition, said Dave Eixenberger, UDOT structures operations engineer. About 20 percent are in moderate condition and about 75 to 80 percent are in good condition, he said.
Bridges along I-80 in Salt Lake County are in "fair to poor" condition, according to Eixenberger.
Rob Wight, UDOT district engineer over construction and maintenance, said crews will probably check the bridge over 600 East at least daily to ensure its safety.
E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com
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