This informative letter was emailed to me today and I thought it was worth sharing with our readers. It was addressed to Chuck Iley, Fritz Behring, and Harold Rutledge.

Gentlemen:
In light of the recent bridge failure in Minnesota there is increased concern about potential danger presented by deficient bridges.
Today's Times Union profiled 43 area bridges. A bridge listed only as "Black Creek / 0.9 miles south of CR 220" scored 7 out of 100. Only the 70+ year old Bridge of Lions scored lower, and its reconstruction is well underway.
The bridge near CR 220 is almost certainly the CR 209 bridge over Black Creek. Not only did it tie for 2nd lowest score out of 43 bridges, the article claims it has not been reinspected in nearly 3 years despite the recommendation that bridges scoring below 50 be annually inspected.
To my untrained eye, obvious problems include significant narrowing of the cross-sectional area of many of its support pilings near the waterline. There is also substantial deterioration / erosion underneath the span at its north end.
The CR 209 bridge's allowed vehicle loads have been substantially derated to 18-22 tons. However, the signs indicating same are routinely ignored by operators of trucks weighing many tons more than those limits. Moreover, in a roadside discussion several weeks ago, an FDOT commercial vehicle compliance officer told me that the present signage is unenforceable owing to inadequate / nonexistent postings further away from the bridge.
Thousands of Clay families daily traverse the CR 209 bridge. The depth of Black Creek virtually insures that any accident there involving vehicle(s) entering the water will involve fatalities.
Therefore I believe it reasonable to demand the following:
1) An immediate reinspection of the CR209 bridge using any available competent resource to verify that the present weight ratings are still safe.
2) Immediate action to legally post and strictly enforce the weight limits required to ensure the integrity of the structure and the safety of drivers until it is able to be replaced. This may require posting a detour route for heavy vehicles, paying FDOT motor compliance officers at off duty rates for stepped up enforcement, and / or creating a commercial vehicle compliance unit within the Clay Sheriff's Office to focus on this problem.
In addition, I strongly suggest evaluating and publishing the current schedule to replace the span. That effort should include reevaluating recently announced projects such as the CR 209 extension and CR 220 widenings with an eye toward replacing the CR 209 bridge BEFORE undertaking those other major projects. The criticality of the CR 209 bridge situation may require that it become our highest priority road improvement project. At minimum, a safety / risk analysis of delaying the other two projects verses continued delay of the CR 209 bridge replacement should be carried out.
The preliminary focus of the Minneapolis bridge tragedy investigation is on fatigue failure possibly caused by heavy truck traffic. I urge whatever steps necessary to keep the nightmare there from repeating itself here.
Thank you,
Curt Kinder, P.E.