Published: June 29, 2008 12:19 am            

NIAGARA COUNTY BRIDGES: Summer cleaning

Local bridges get washdown to extend their life

By Dan Miner

minerd@gnnewspaper.com

They might not be gleaming like Grandma’s freshly polished silver but rest assured, Niagara County’s bridges are spick-and-span.

Using federal funds, Niagara County public works crews finished the project, which included all public bridges on county or Niagara Falls city roads, on June 6. In all, 80 county bridges and 22 city bridges were given a washdown, including power hoses which clean grit and salt that threaten to erode bridges and shorten their life span.

“The cars and trucks going over this stuff all the time act like sandpaper,” county DPW Commissioner Kevin O’Brien said in a release. Later, he added, “If we can extend the bridge life from, say, 35 years to 45 or 50 years, it means we get another 10 to 15 years for the bridge just through this washing and other preventative maintenance.”

The federal funds, administered through the Greater Buffalo-Niagara Regional Transportation Council, come on the heels of the deadly bridge collapse over the Mississippi River in 2007, according to the release.

Large state-run bridges such as those going to and from Grand Island were not included in the cleaning.

“There’s a recognition in New York state as well as in Erie and Niagara counties that aging of our bridge infrastructure is an issue that’s both expensive and in need of urgent attention,” said Hal Morse, executive director of the Transportation Council.

Contact reporter Dan Miner

at 282-2311, ext. 2263.

        

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