PennDOT blocks public from seeing online inspection notes of damaged bridges: report

PennDOT scrubbed bridge inspectors’ notes from its website, reducing the ability of residents to access safety data of bridges they regularly use, according to a recent report by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

The revelation by the Post Gazette comes after the Fern Hollow Creek bridge in Pittsburgh collapsed in January injuring 10 people. PennLive reported at the time that Pennsylvania has the second-highest number of bridges in the nation that fall within the “poor” condition category as defined by federal standards.

According to the Post Gazette, PennDOT’s public online map of bridge reports contained, up until this past February, direct notes from inspectors that detailed issues with bridges. Some of these, the Post Gazette found, were in dire terms, such as “severe deterioration” at a Washington County bridge where the creek running below was visible through holes in the bridge deck.

After the newspaper reporters inquired about the notes, PennDOT removed them from public view – but only after the newspaper saved the info to its own database, which is now available online through the Post Gazette website.

PennDOT told the Post Gazette that the notes could be misinterpreted and claimed they could pose a security risk by potential saboteurs.

State and federal laws require bridges of over 20 feet in length to be routinely inspected and reported under criteria set by PennDOT and the Federal Highway Administration.

Elements of a given bridge are rated on a 1-9 point scale. A bridge with any elements rated at a 4 or less is considered to be “poor” under the federal rubric, although imminent risk of collapse is only indicated at ratings of 1 or 2.

The rating database in Pennsylvania includes more than 20,000 bridges, according to the Post-Gazette. PennLive’s tally earlier this year showed roughly 800 bridges subject to inspection in Cumberland and Dauphin counties, of which several dozen were in the “poor” category. Federal counts show that Iowa is the only state with more bridges in worse condition than Pennsylvania.

Outside of major highway structures that are directly maintained by PennDOT, Pennsylvania has largely delegated bridge maintenance to counties. Act 89 of 2013 gave counties the ability to collect an additional $5 vehicle registration fee to fund bridge infrastructure work.

Cumberland County is in the final stages of its program to overhaul county-owned bridges, with county officials earlier this year discussing passing a portion of the $1.2 million annual registration fee revenue stream on to municipalities to assist with their bridge repair projects.

Ha!

Yeah, they “sold” the Lottery to our state with such glowing announcements. More money for schools! More money for state parks!

We no longer even have garbage cans in our State Parks. No money. Strange, that. The latest thing, they are kicking all the Rangers out of housing. No longer will housing be provided. This was kind of a perq I suppose, part of the pay and allowances, for someone who worked their way up through the ranks at the DNR and eventually, made it to the top.

I am willing most Pennsylvania Freepers have made PennDOT jokes in the past. When I right, 'past', know that I mean decades. Yeah, it's semi-funny and a way to vent some frustration over road conditions. As a college kid back in the 1980's I had an acquaintance that was a civil engineering major. He was more interested in playing golf that studying. I joked to him, trying to spur him to study, that all that golf will lead to a job at PennDOT as a Bridge Sitter (BS) 1, and in several years he would get a promotion to BS 2.

You know what I am talking about if you have driven the roads in PA. You'll see one guy working and three or four just standing their. If a bridge is being worked on, they sit on the side of bridge.

When you have PennDOT employees sitting/standing around when they should be working you also have supervisors that don't give a damn. In turn, the lazy asses in Harrisburg that do even less. The only thing they care about are their next wage increase, benefits and their pensions.

Taxpayers and everyone who fills his gas that in Pennsylvania pays for this laziness. Pennsylvania has the 2nd highest gas tax in America. It was raised to fix our crumbling infrastructure. That infrastructure has been crumbling for decades, but we keep pumping more money to make the problem worse.

Here are concrete things that need to be done to wright the course:
1.) Eliminate all public sector unions. Nullify their contracts.
2.) Start firing lazy asses. Those bridge sitters get one chance to sit then they are fired.
3.) Cut PennDOT management/supervisor positions and their support staffs by 75%. Make the other 25% actually work.
4.) Narrow the scope of where tax dollars are spent. No more funding for SEPTA, regional light rail and buses. Make riders pay their way.
5.) Cut the green energy bullshit by 100% and build/maintain roads and bridges. Narrow the focus to something limited and finite, then work on those few things and do them right.
6.) Eliminate and stop buying all that electronic signage. We don't need that in the middle of nowhere, and all those city folks got along in the past without it, they can do it again.
7.) Eliminate the Turnpike Commission. The government function is build and maintain roads. We do not need a corrupt Turnpike Commission doing the same damn thing as PennDOT.
8.) Measure progress. If roads and bridges are getting better, then PennDOT workers get raises, but NEVER more than what the private sector employees get. If roads and bridges are getting worse, then PennDOT employees get demotions and their pay gets cut.

Government should never be a career. Government is public service. It should be short-term employment with EVERY government employee working in the private sector before they work for government and after they work for government. You can't learn a work ethic and provide value to tax dollars by never had seen how real work is done in the private sector.

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