Part 3 of Series: On a scale of 1-10, most big bridges in the Tri-Cities rate a 6 or 7—with a range from 5 to 9.
The bridges in Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles all earn passing grades, according to a report by Transportation for America. And that's an important footnote when examining the results of the report. Whenever we analyze data, there's a human tendency as well as a journalistic tendency to focus on what's wrong and what needs to be fixed. In fact, that's part of the purpose of the report: to lay out an argument for government investment in infrastructure, as mentioned in President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address. The Website asks people to sign up and tell Congress to start spending. "America's transportation system is broken. Bridges are crumbling, commute times are longer than ever, and too few people have access to good options…
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Part 2 of series: St. Charles' Main Street bridge is plenty safe structurally, but a national report hints that it might have more traffic than it can handle.
St. Charles' Main Street/Route 64 bridge over the Fox River is safe but “functionally obsolete,” according to a report by Transportation for America. A functionally obsolete bridge is not unsafe in any way. In fact, the St. Charles Route 64 bridge earns comparatively high marks for safety: an 8 for its deck and superstructure, and a 7 for its substructure. The Transportation for America report points out that "functinally obsolete" means the bridge “has older design features not built to current standards.” For example, the bridge might not be wide enough or high enough to accommodate state expectations for traffic volumes for vehicle weights and sizes. Width likely is the issue on the Main Street bridge, where average traffic volumes of …
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2:02 pm on Saturday, February 23, 2013
Since this the second article about bridges, I wanted to weigh in as a civil engineer. "Functionally Obsolete" generally means very little about the actual condition of the bridge. If a bridge has more traffic volume than a typical bridge of it's size, then it is graded down as functionally obsolete. There may be a number of other criteria that lead it to be listed as functionally obsolete. In … more ›
National Report: Click here for an interactive map that will show you the deficient bridges in our area as well as the status of the bridges we cross every day.
Sixteen bridges within 10 miles of Geneva are rated "structurally deficient," according to a Transportation for America report. The good news is that none of them are in Geneva, Batavia or St. Charles city limits and none are major traffic thoroughfares across the Fox River. The bad news is that there is a deficient bridge as close as Wenmoth Road, which crosses Mill Creek, and another at Joliet and Wilson Streets in DuPage County, a 1933-vintage bridge crossing Kress Creek that handles 11,500 vehicles a day. Other deficient bridges you've probably crossed several times include Main Street in Winfield and on Illinois Route 56. The report also indicates the relative health of bridges we cross every day in Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles. …
7:47 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Mike B, The report used in this story is not new and did not describe that the inspection of Wenmoth Road Bridge was completed in 2009. The current engineering report is from 2012 and is filed with the State of Illinois, Kane County Department of Transportation, and Geneva Township Clerks office. Inspections of bridges are done every other year. The Wenmoth Road Bridge over Mill Creek is in good … more ›
Jacob Chally
11:45 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The problem is, in Illinois, IDOT has no money to construct ANYTHING, because the state is broke. They barely can maintain the roads as they are. If any major road project (i.e new high-speed highway) is built, it has to be built by the ISTHA. If you go on the IDOT website, you'll see how many projects are stuck at the Phase I "Preliminary Engineering" stage. Meanwhile, our neighbors to the north… more ›