Politics & Government
Santee Bridges Among Many in U.S. Labeled ‘Structurally Deficient’
A private group, Transportation for America, examined nearly 70,000 spans and freeway overpasses and found more than 10 percent of them in need of better upkeep.
A national transportation group has labeled five bridges in the Santee area as “stucturally deficient,” as part of a warning that structures throughout the country need better upkeep and investment to protect motorists.
Transportation for America is a coalition of business and health interests, among others, that seeks a more modernized transporation system for the country.
According to the group, while each of the bridge's structure and substructure – the pieces that connect to the ground and hold up the roadway cars cross on – are sound, the roadways are in need of work.
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The group ranks the structures on a scale of 0-9. Anything ranked at a 4 or lower is determined to be deficient, meaning they “require significant maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement.”
Within Santee, the group found the Cuyamaca Street bridge as it crosses the San Diego River and the Prospect Avenue bridge as it crosses Forrester Creek to be structurally deficient.
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These bridges are among dozens of structures ranked in San Diego County by the group; enter a zip code or an address in their interactive tool to find other results.
Everyday bridges and iconic structures are on the nationwide list, reports ABC News; an ABC correspondent, Deborah Roberts said 67,000 have deficiencies.
In addition to Santee area bridges the list includes the Coronado bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, the North LaSalle Street Bridge in Chicago, the Steel Bridge in Portland and the Longfellow Bridge in Boston.
NBC7-San Diego also reported on the transportation group's findings; the complete report available online was released in 2011.
The group advocates for more public funding for transportation. Following President Barack Obama's State of the Union proposal to adopt a “fix-it first” policy regarding the nation's infrastructure, Transportation for America noted a poll in which 86 percent of those queried supported better maintenance for existing roads and bridges rather than building new ones.
Santee area bridges labeled "structural deficient":
Location Year Built Cars Per Day Cuyamaca St, crosses SD River 1974 10,000 Prospect Ave, crosses Forrester Creek 1970 12,000 Greenfield Dr, crosses Route 67 1971 16,100 Winter Gardens Blvd, crosses Route 67 1970 15,393 Route 67, crosses Channel Rd 1970 16,500Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
