Aug 7, 2007 5:57 pm US/Central
Lieutenant Governor Demands Details On TX Bridges
AUSTIN (AP) ―
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst cast doubt Tuesday on assertions that Texas bridges are safe and demanded details about deficient bridges from state transportation officials.
More than 2,100 Texas bridges were classified under the same structurally deficient rating given to the bridge that collapsed last week in Minnesota and killed at least eight people, according to a 2006 report. State officials insist that all 50,000 bridges in Texas are completely safe.
"I read with relief your statement that 'all of the bridges on Texas public roads are safe,"' Dewhurst wrote in the letter to Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Department of Transportation. "But the Minnesota highway department, I assume, thought that was true for their state, too."
Dewhurst, expected to be eying a bid for governor in 2010, gave Williamson an Aug. 17 deadline for the department to compile a report detailing "the number and locations of all structurally deficient bridges, the status of their maintenance contracts and their anticipated date for repair."
The letter is dated Aug. 3. Dewhurst's office released it in an e-mail to reporters Tuesday.
"Whatever is being requested of us, we will comply," said transportation department spokesman Mark Cross. "We feel that all of our bridges are safe."
Structurally deficient bridges accounted for 4 percent of the state's bridges, according to the report by the Texas Department of Transportation. Seventy-seven percent of Texas bridges were labeled good or better, while most of the rest were deemed functionally obsolete, meaning they were not designed to handle current traffic demands.
"I really do believe right now what TxDOT is saying. Our bridges are currently sufficient," said state Sen. John Carona, a Dallas Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security. "But I want to emphasize that because of the average age of our system, it would not be appropriate to say that they are in good condition. They are instead in sufficient condition."
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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