Houston — HOUSTON - The 610 Ship Channel Bridge (or Sidney Sherman Bridge) was partially closed after a problem was detected during a routine inspection.
You might be surprised to learn bridge inspections only happen every two years.
“As long as they fix it,” said one driver waiting in the backup along 610.
A corroded bridge bearing between the road deck and a pier below is what needed to be fixed in this case.
“This is something that we found in a localized area under the bridge during a routine inspection we do every two years,” said TxDOT spokesperson Deidrea George.
According to TxDOT, bridge inspections happen once every two years for most normal bridges.
But keep this in mind: TxDOT oversees some 54,000 bridges across the state.
“And if there are problems that we can assess and come back, that’s what we do,” George said. “And if there are problems that need to be taken care of right away, we do that as well.”
Inspection data is compiled in a bi-annual report on all publicly owned vehicular bridges, which includes their condition from good to functionally obsolete. Some good news is the percentage of average daily traffic traveling on structurally deficient bridges in Texas is only .5 percent according to the 2016 report. That’s the lowest in the nation.
In addition to routine inspections, what are known as “emergency inspections” happen more often than every two years after events like a fire, collision or flooding.