Municipality Denying Structural Risk of Their Own Property 7

[bigmig]

I was visiting my childhood stomping grounds this year an noticed a pedestrian bridge, owned by the Town, on Town property crossing a creek. The bridge is over 30 years old, and is constructed with telephone poles converted to Girders. The pole ends have began to decay. The bridge guard rail is a system of nailed-together 2x4's, precariously balanced. They are at least 30 years old.

I observed the bridge in action during a local duck derby. A crowd, mostly children, had gathered to watch the duck finish, which coincidentally is right below the bridge. The bridge began to bow, the handrail began to fail, the crowd screamed, and everyone let go of the rail just in time for it to spring back into place. Scary.

After the event I inspect the bridge, and do partially intrusive inspections to determine rot extent and basically give myself enough "fact" to present this issue to the Town. I approach the town with a letter, outlining the risk.

They respond quickly, but without action. Our back and forth "hey you have a problem", "it is not a priority for us right now" has been going on for 9 months. Who has the political power to give these guys a kick in the pants? I can write the news paper? Head up a pitch fork and tar crowd? Send the letter to their insurance company?

I'm just at a loss.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I would think a "I have no dog in this fight, but as an engineer I'm obliged to point out public safety concerns..." letter to the local TV station would turn a few heads.

But then again, I'm not a fan of bureaucratic lollygaggers.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[SteelPE]

Did your letter go to the building inspector in town or someone else?

I thought most jurisdictions code of ethics prohibited an engineer from making public statements without all of the facts (or something to this order). So, would writing a letter to the local news agency be in violation of the code of ethics?

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Seeing a handrail that nearly fell over and hurt numerous people due to visible rot doesn't seem like a far road to travel for basic facts of safety violations, particularly if there has been no visible movement for 9 months.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[msquared48]

Well, municipalities are supposed to be insured. I am sure their insurance company would welcome a well worded, spicy letter from you!

S()* flows downhill...

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[bigmig]

The letter went to the town and parks administrator whom I have been prodding for 9 months. I was referred there by the building official. It is a small town. There is no TV station. I ran calcs on the girders. They were at something like 350% over. I saw the bridge under load. It is like a trampoline.

I can roll my eyes and huff and puff, but at the end of the day, it doesn't mean a darn thing if the town won't act. The point of this post is that sometimes, the people who should be enforcing the laws society lives under, are in violation themselves.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

I'd say you've satisfied your ethical obligations unless you would consider their "back and forth" to be considered "overruling your professional judgement". If so (and I would say it is) then I would escalate it to the town council. If that has no effect then escalate it to your state engineering board and/or the state official responsible for oversight of the local municipalities. Only if you get stonewalled there would I go to the media.

I'd also not consider it a bad move to put yellow caution tape on the handrails with a tag explaining the problem.

Maine Professional and Structural Engineer.

http://www.fepc.us

(Just passed the 16-hour SE exam, woohoo!)

 

[cvg]

rather than start a fight with the city which may not result in action, why not offer to help with a volunteer effort to re-build? you can do the design, others can donate the materials and labor. everybody wins, you are the hero

 

[bigmig]

@cvg, that is a great idea and is in fact, the way I approached them. I cut my rate in half, and offered several suggestions in regards to fund raising themes where they could rebuild it to match either an event, or "the bridge from the past to the future", as their historical society building, which went through a huge remodel recently, is less than 400 feet away. I get a bunch of "great idea", but again, no movement.

I have the civil, the fund raisers, the Army Corp everything. They just won't move because "it is not a priority right now".

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Pull the handrail down (safely) and install red danger tape; now it's a priority. (Not even joking, sometimes the illusion of safety is worse than the lack of it.)

Maine Professional and Structural Engineer.

http://www.fepc.us

(Just passed the 16-hour SE exam, woohoo!)

 

[msquared48]

Before the Tacoma Narrows bridge failed, it had earned the nickname "Galloping Gertie".

Perhaps you can think of something appropriate, and bring it before the city council for posting at each end of the bridge.

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[1gibson]

See if they will meet with you to look at the bridge. Have the meeting in the middle of the bridge. Jump up and down as required, to help make your point.

I was also going to suggest "testing" the handrail, but that's already been covered.

 

[msquared48]

And bring parachutes for everybody...

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)

 

[MintJulep]

Small towns still have town meetings occasionally, right?

 

[MikeHalloran]

Copy the letter to the town's attorney.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Ron]

MikeH nailed it....send a carefully worded letter to the town attorney. Cite your technical reasons and cite your obligation as a professional engineer to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. Let the attorney know that you have made numerous attempts to get someone to listen. Let him know that if no action is taken to put up a warning sign and to close the bridge to the public within 10 days (don't give them a longer time....10 days is reasonable considering the effort you've already put forth), that you will alert the state board of professional engineers, the state's code authority and the attorney general of the state. All of those will supercede any town authority and will likely get someone's a$$ in gear.

 

[looslib]

Do NOT pull the handrail down...that could lead to a charge of destruction of public property!


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

I would personally be shocked if a judge didn't throw that out. Plus, you could likely argue that the handrail was pulled down with significantly less load than required by code or considered safe. Therefore it was already destroyed; you just made it's appearance reflect it's reality.

Maine Professional and Structural Engineer.

http://www.fepc.us

(Just passed the 16-hour SE exam, woohoo!)

 

[HamburgerHelper]

If the judge didn't throw it out, I think I would rather be fined or sued than feel complicit if someone was seriously injured.

 

[JayMaechtlen]

I leaned against it and it broke...


Jay Maechtlen

http://www.laserpubs.com/techcomm