Bridge Safety

In the wake of the Minnesota bridge collapse, the governors of Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois are promising to make sure their bridges are safe. In Indiana, inspectors will be out Monday morning looking at 13 steel deck truss bridges. Governor Mitch Daniels ordered the emergency inspection. Five of the 13 bridges are in southwestern Indiana. They include the twin bridges between Evansville and Henderson... The state road I-61 bridge that leads in to Owensboro... The bridge between New Harmony and White County, Illinois... The Blair Road Bridge over McCarty Ditch in Gibson County... And the West Franklin Bridge over Pigeon Creek in Evansville. None of the bridges are actually owned by the state of Indiana According to federal transportation officials, Kentucky has 1300 bridges listed as "structurally deficient." Thats the same rating given to the bridge in Minnesota that collapsed. Governor Ernie Fletcher says Kentuckys bridges are safe, but he has ordered a review of the inspections. The governor says the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet employs a rigorous bridge inspection program to ensure public safety, with inspections of all of the approximately 14-thousand bridges throughout the commonwealth. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has asked the state legislature for 10 billion dollars to upgrade infrastructure. Engineers for the state and the city of Chicago are trying to assure people that the bridges are safe. The state of Illinois owns and operates more than 85-hundred bridges. Records show nearly ten percent have structural problems. The Illinois department of transportation says it has been doing inspections as scheduled, but it plans to take a closer look to make sure nothing was missed. The governor says Illinois has the 5TH safest bridge system in the US. In Minneapolis, the death toll is now 5 with 8 people unaccounted for. 79 people were injured in the collapse