CALHOUN HAS 17 STRUCTURALLY DEFICIENT/OBSOLETE BRIDGES - Regional County Ratings

(12/01/2014)

The American Society of Civil Engineers says 952 of the 7,093 bridges in West Virginia are considered structurally deficient. Another 1,595 are considered functionally obsolete. Calhoun, which has 49 bridges, 5 are structurally deficient and 12 functionally obsolete bridges. "Structurally deficient" means that the condition of the bridge includes a significant defect, which often means that speed or weight limits must be put on the bridge to ensure safety. "Functionally obsolete" means that the design of a bridge is not suitable for its current use, such as lack of safety shoulders or the inability to handle current traffic volume, speed, size, or weight. "We are not going to put vehicles on a bridge that is unsafe," said Brent Walker with the West Virginia Department of Transportation. "We can battle that with three things. We can replace the bridge, make repairs to the bridge or reduce the weight limit of the bridge." According to the group West Virginians for Better Transportation the county with the highest percentage of deficient bridges is Pocahontas County and Webster county had the fewest. Roane (114 bridges) 21 structurally deficient, 33 functionally obsolete. Gilmer (111 bridges) 3 structurally deficient, 24 functionally obsolete. Ritchie (133 bridges) 18 structurally deficient, 30 functionally obsolete. Wirt (43 bridges) 5 structurally deficient, 7 functionally obsolete. Braxton (186 bridges) 3 structurally deficient, 23 functionally obsolete. Clay (90 bridges) 18 structurally deficient, 19 functionally obsolete.

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