Calling the Yale Street bridge “functionally obsolete” after a recent engineering study, the Texas Department of Transportation has secured “out of cycle funding” to replace the bridge, Councilwoman Ellen Cohen announced late Monday. Cohen said that means the project won’t have to go through federal bureaucracy and that a new bridge could be built within five years.
After an increasingly dire series of surveys of the 91-year-old bridge, a city-commissioned study by engineers from Entech, dated June 1, not only corroborated earlier findings that led to the banning of 18-wheel trucks, but downgraded the vehicle limit to 7,200 pounds — about the weight of a fully loaded large SUV.
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In her announcement, Cohen said she was organizing a meeting between those neighborhood groups, TxDOT and Houston public works officials to occur after Labor Day to discuss a timeline outlined in the memo from TxDOT.
See here for the previous update, and here for the TxDOT memo, which lays out the estimated timeline. Five years sounds like a long time, but with funding secured at least you know it will get done.
” Five years sounds like a long time, but with funding secured at least you know it will get done. ”
Charles, five years is a long time, especially when TxDOT policy says it should be closed in less than 24 months due to the fact that the Inventory Rating is less than 3.0 (it is a 2.0 according to the Entech Report).
No one is saying the bridge should be closed. It’s all lies being perpetrated by the anti-Walmart people who are grasping at straws trying to make any excuse they can imagine, no matter how outlandish to try to obstruct Walmart’s ability to business because they lost the fight. When the Walmart opens in October you can bet you’ll see those same people shopping there.
Ags, TxDOT policy says it should be closed in 24 months once the Inventory Rating goes below a 3.0
Here: http://onlinemanuals.txdot.gov/txdotmanuals/ins/legal_loads_and_load_posting.htm
see section 5.5
The City-commissioned Entech Report says the Inventory Rating is a 2.0
Here:
http://rudh.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/CityBridgeReportJune2012.pdf
2.0 is less than 3.0.
Yeah, Ags, it’s all “lies” that happen to be backed up by scientific data provided by TxDOT engineers and a City commissioned engineering report that clearly details the bridge’s structural integrity, or lack thereof. Get a grip.
Seriously, five years is a non-starter. Just looking at those links Jules provided (thanks, btw), it’s obvious that this bridge needs to be closed to protect the public immediately. Otherwise, it’s five years of cars backed up onto that deteriorating deck? That’s a calculated risk the City should not be taking.