Five bridges spanning railroad tracks in Charlottesville and Albemarle County are considered "structurally deficient" by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), and there are currently plans to replace only one of these troubled overpasses. These figures are the result of a recent study of area bridges by local VDOT officials.
The qualification of "structurally deficient" may alarm some after the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis this August, but VDOT officials say this label does not always mean that a structure is unsafe for vehicular traffic. All bridges are judged with general condition rating, ranging from 0 (failed condition) to 9 (excellent), which is based on their driving surface, support beneath the roadway and foundation. A rating of 4 or less in at least one of the three categories indicates that a bridge is "structurally deficient."
This bridge, which takes Jefferson Park Avenue over railroad tracks near Fontaine Avenue, is one of five structurally deficient bridges in the area—and the only one slated to be replaced.
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"There are a lot of bridges in the United States with a general condition rating of 4," says David Pierce, VDOT Culpeper district bridge engineer. "It should be on your radar for planning to do something. Just because a general condition rating is 4 doesn’t mean that it’s unsafe or that we should be out there tomorrow doing maintenance on that structure."
Though VDOT inspects all bridges that pass over railroad tracks, it is the applicable railroad company’s responsibility for the maintenance of the overpassing bridge. In Albemarle County, Norfolk Southern and C&O are the companies responsible for the deficient bridges. Using a slightly different rating system, primary bridges maintained by VDOT have an average sufficiency rating of 75 percent, while bridges maintained by railroad companies have an average rating of 30.
"Under the original agreements, we were required to construct an overhead bridge that was adequate for the traffic at the time the bridges were constructed," says Norfolk Southern spokesperson Susan Terpay via e-mail, adding that most of the structures in question are considerably older than typical spans for vehicular traffic. "In some cases, the highway bridges that we maintain are functionally obsolete for today’s vehicles. In those instances, we believe that VDOT should replace the bridges."
Case in point, the Jefferson Park Avenue bridge over Norfolk Southern tracks just off Fontaine Avenue. Originally built in 1932, it is the only "structurally deficient" bridge of its kind slated to be replaced by VDOT. Though Norfolk Southern will participate in the costs of the replacement, Terpay says its inspector told the company the bridge needed "no attention in the foreseeable future."
Norfolk Southern will only contribute about 2 percent of the total $8 million cost of replacement, according to Pierce. "The railroad is probably not quite as concerned with the conditions of the bridges over the railroad tracks," says Pierce, "as they are about the tracks themselves."
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