KDOT leader orders visual inspection of bridges

Topeka ? The state’s top transportation official changed her mind and ordered a quick visual inspection of three northeastern Kansas bridges similar in design to the one that collapsed last week in Minnesota.

Secretary Deb Miller had the Department of Transportation examine the U.S. 69 bridge over the Kansas River at 18th Street in Kansas City on Wednesday. The agency said the northbound U.S. 169 bridge over the same river in Kansas City would be inspected today, and the Amelia Earhart Bridge on U.S. 59 in Atchison on Monday.

The department will follow up with in-depth inspections later this summer. Those efforts will take six weeks and be finished by the end of September, spokesman Steve Swartz said.

The state highway system has six bridges with a deck truss design similar to the I-35W bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Its collapse killed at least five people and injured another 100.

All six Kansas bridges undergo annual, in-depth inspections that already were scheduled before the Minnesota collapse. Three of those inspections were set to begin next week.

Miller had previously ordered last year’s inspection reports reviewed, but decided last week against quick visual inspections.

“Although the review of the inspection reports did not raise new concerns, I concluded that a higher level of scrutiny was a better, more responsible approach,” she said in a statement, “and I decided to rethink my initial decision.”

The in-depth inspections can involve special equipment, such as ultrasound machines.

The three bridges subject to those inspections next week form the I-70 intercity viaduct in Kansas City, crossing the Kansas River and railroad tracks.

All are steel. One was built in 1962 and another in 1963.

The other was built in 1907, making it the second-oldest bridge still in use on the state highway system, according to KDOT records.

The oldest is the U.S. 59 bridge over Skunk Run in Franklin County, built in 1905.

The other two Wyandotte County bridges also are steel.

The U.S. 169 span was built in 1933, while the U.S. 69 bridge was constructed in 1959.

In Atchison, the steel Amelia Earhart Bridge, on U.S. 59 over the Missouri River, was built in 1938.

State Highway bridges

The 10 oldest bridges still in use on the Kansas highway system:

YEAR – HWY – COUNTY1905 – US 59 – Franklin1907 – I-70 – Wyandotte1910 – K-39 – Bourbon1912 – K-31 – Anderson1912 – K-34 – Ford1915 – US 73 – Leavenworth1916 – US 73 – Leavenworth1918 – K-49 – Sumner1919 – K-18 – Riley1919 – K-18 – Wabaunsee

Source: AP computer analysis of Department of Transportation data.