On June 28, 1983, twenty-five years ago tomorrow, a section of the northbound side of an I-95 bridge spanning Connecticut’s Mianus River collapsed. Three people died in the tragedy, with another three injured (far more would have been at risk had the collapse occurred during the day rather than very early in the morning).
The disaster put a spotlight on how little attention Connecticut had paid to maintenance. At the time, ConnDOT had only 12 bridge inspectors to handle the state’s 3,600 highway bridges and 1,200 bridges on local roads (each two-person inspection team was assigned 400 bridges a year). An internal inquiry found that some inspectors had cut corners and even claimed to do inspections they had not performed in order to stay on schedule.
Connecticut’s response was appropriately dramatic. Within a year, ConnDOT had hired additional inspectors and inspection support staff, purchased additional equipment, and changed the bridge design process to include more inspector feedback. Connecticut’s elected officials voted to invest $5.5 billion into the state’s transportation infrastructure over 10 years, with striking results. Between 1986 and 1997, the percentage of the state’s bridges which were structurally deficient or functionally obsolete (according to the FHWA’s National Bridge Inventory) decreased from more than 60% to just over 28%.
Since 1997, however, bridge conditions have gradually worsened; the most recent National Bridge Inventory shows that 33.5% of Connecticut’s bridges are deficient. A 2007 Tri-State Campaign report, Reform: The Road Not Taken, revealed that ConnDOT is spending almost two-thirds of its highway and bridge capital budget on expansion, not maintenance.
The Mianus River collapse was an obvious lesson in the tragic consequences of deferring maintenance. State officials took it to heart, effectively responded to disaster, and overhauled the state’s priorities. Over the last decade, however, Connecticut’s commitment to maintenance has again shown signs of slipping. After the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse, Gov. Rell and the state legislature passed $100 million in bonds for state bridges, which is a good start (see MTR # 562). Mianus River is a lesson no one wants to relearn.
Image: TSTC analysis of FHWA data.
If it means anything, at least we’re learning a little more each year that proper bridge assessments are necessary to keep this from happening.
Things like this are going to keep happening, especially during heavy traffic seasons/hoildays. Ovbiously not every disaster is crime-related. The NY-NJ Port and other transit authorities should be more duly notified of any notices of structure/other issues, with major bridge lines.
You mention in your post that between 1986 and 1997, the percentage of Connecticut’s bridges which were structurally deficient or functionally obsolete decreased from more than 60% to just over 28%, according to the FHWA’s National Bridge Inventory.
I easily found FHWA’s NBI data by state and highway system from 1992 to 2008 here: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/deficient.cfm.
Where did you find the data from 1986 to 1991?
I was returning to New Haven from Pennsylvania the night of June 27th. When I got to New Haven we heard on the news that the bridge I had just crossed an hour before had collapsed.
[…] Cob Bridge. Not to be confused with the Mianus River Bridge which carries I-95 over the river and famously collapsed in 1983) was built in 1904 by the American Bridge Company. A previous two-track bridge existed in […]
I remember the morning the Mianus River Bridge collapsed very well. Two of us drivers left the terminal in Warwick, NY at the same time going to deliver out loads to New Bedford. I was the lead truck and when I went across the span joint, I “flew” out of the drivers seat. I got on the radio and warned the other drivers behind me about it, and a few seconds later our other driver came back and said that the bridge was gone.
I’ve had a few close calls where a bridge collapsed the same day I was across them. Covington, Tennessee Rte. 51 bridge and the NYS Thruway I-90 bridge crossing the Schoharie Creek in Schoharie, NY. I’m glad I’m retired now…
[…] made a significant investment in its bridges after the collapse of the Mianus River Bridge in 1983. But in more recent years, the percentage of the state’s bridges considered […]
[…] years ago in Connecticut, the collapse of the Mianus River Bridge drew national attention to the plight of bridges. State leaders responded with billions of dollars […]
[…] week marked the 30th anniversary of the Mianus Bridge collapse in Connecticut that killed three people and injured three more. The anniversary comes on the heels […]
[…] Thanks to the advent of all electronic, open road toll collection systems, there’s no reason to fear a repeat of the January 1983 tragedy in Stratford. Failure to re-establish tolls, however, could result in a different kind of tragedy — one more like what happened five months later in Greenwich. […]