Twenty-six bridges in Boone County are rated by the federal government as "structurally deficient." Nineteen are thoroughfares supervised by the Missouri Department of Transportation, including two on Interstate 70 and one on Highway 63.

The structurally deficient rating is based on an annual inspection completed in April by the Federal Highway Administration. The rating means a bridge is in relatively poor condition or has an insufficient load capacity, according to the report. Bridges are rated from 1 to 10, and anything rating 4 or lower receives the deficient label.

The rating means bridges need attention, experts said, but it doesn’t mean they’re unsafe. Old bridges have come under scrutiny since Wednesday’s collapse of an interstate bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

"There are definitely bridges in Columbia that could use fixing up, and if that doesn’t happen within 15 years, it could be a problem, but if a bridge is unsafe we close it," MoDOT state bridge inspector Dennis Heckman said. "We don’t worry about politics, we don’t worry about the public getting mad, we close it."

Heckman said he has closed two Missouri bridges in 15 years.

Necessary upgrades could include replacing portions of the bridge deck, reinforcing pilings sunk into the ground or measures to control rust.

The two I-70 bridges in Boone County rated as structurally deficient are the span crossing Business Loop 70 and the ramp onto Business Loop 70 westbound. Also rated as structurally deficient is the Highway 63 bridge over Turkey Creek.

Eric Schroeter, assistant district engineer for MoDOT, emphasized that none of the major bridges in the Columbia area needs urgent attention. Heavily used bridge spans, including those along Highway 63 and I-70, only need regular maintenance, he said, not serious bolstering.

The Highway 63 Missouri River bridge in Jefferson City was given a lesser, "functionally obsolete" rating. Heckman said the bridge is a "steel through arch" design, not the "deck truss" style that collapsed in Minneapolis. That means drivers on the Jefferson City bridge move through the trusses; the trusses were hidden below the deck in Minneapolis.

The Jefferson City bridge received the obsolete rating, Heckman said, because its deck width of 37.7 feet gives cars insufficient shoulder room.

The only deck truss bridge in Missouri similar to the Minneapolis bridge is the 70-year-old Hurricane Deck Bridge that carries traffic on Highway 5 over the Lake of the Ozarks. A spokeswoman for Gov. Matt Blunt said officials have no reason to believe it is unsafe but planned to inspect it today.

Small, "off system" bridges are maintained by city or county governments. Seven county or municipally maintained bridges in Boone County are structurally deficient, the federal report said. But Shane Creech, manager of design and construction for Boone County, said he’s not concerned.

"Structurally deficient and teetering on collapse are two different things," he said.

Creech pointed to the tiny Greer Road Bridge in Centralia as one most in need of attention. A MoDOT report recommended channel cleaning and re-welding work to preserve the bridge. Creech and others will examine it in upcoming months to determine whether the work should be budgeted in 2008 or 2009.

"We have to prioritize, and we do our best to hit what we can," he said. Creech said the half-cent road and bridge tax in Boone County that will come to voters for renewal in November is crucial to continued improvements. "Basically, that’s our budget for the upcoming year," he said.

MoDOT’s "Safe and Sound" bridge program will fix or replace 800 of the state’s most critical bridges in the next five years and promises to keep them maintained for 25 years. Columbia’s I-70 and Highway 63 bridges rated as deficient are among the 800.

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