Traveling Route 167? There are bumps ahead, but Trump and Congress might help
State Route 167’s bridge over the BNSF Railway just inside the Tacoma city limits is in bad shape, suffering from what the state transportation department calls “concrete pier deterioration.”
And the bridge over railroad tracks that attaches to a Gravelly Lake Drive bridge over Interstate 5, heavily used like the Route 167 bridge, also is rated to be in poor condition. The section over the railroad tracks needs repairs.
Both bridges are regarded by state and federal agencies, as well as the nation’s road builders association, as heavily traveled local bridges in need of help, the sort of help that President Donald Trump and congressmen and senators from both parties say is a priority nationwide.
The list of poorly rated bridges is compiled by the Washington State Department of Transportation. Also providing a list is the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, a nonpartisan group. Both use standards and data from the Federal Highway Administration.
The poor rating, identical to labeling a bridge structurally deficient, means it has “advanced deficiencies such as section loss, deterioration, cracking ... or seriously affected primary structural components.” The rating does not mean the bridge is unsafe for travelers or in danger of collapse.
“The bridges are not inherently unsafe,” said Alison Black, the road builders’ group chief economist, but drivers and pedestrians might see incremental problems such as falling chunks of concrete or big cracks.
Among poorly rated local bridges, the Route 167/River Road bridge, built in 1934, is a priority for replacement. The Gravelly Lake Drive bridge over railroad tracks, built in 1959, has concrete deck deterioration. It needs rehabilitation, the state agency said, but is not regarded as a top priority, given limited funding and other statewide bridge needs.
There’s more.
The U.S. 101 bridge the over the Chehalis River has a flawed superstructure, says the state agency. Work to address some of the damage, notably soil erosion around the base of a bridge due to high or swift water, is in progress.
The State Route 302 Purdy Bridge over Henderson Bay has concrete pier deterioration and is funded for work sometime between now and 2021.
It gets worse as drivers head to or from Seattle. The most heavily traveled structurally deficient bridge in the state is on Interstate 5 over King-Jackson interchange. The state finds it has concrete deck deterioration, and repair is a priority.
Also on both lists: The Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, which carries traffic westbound, and the state has found “anchor cable deterioration.” It is a repair priority.
Trump and Congress want to help.
“We must also rebuild America’s infrastructure,” Trump said in his State of the Union address Tuesday.
At the Capitol, House Democrats and Republicans earlier this month unveiled new plans to pump billions of federal dollars into highway and bridge repair around the country. Despite all of the bitter partisanship that routinely paralyzes Washington, road and bridge improvement is that rare area where the two parties keep talking and often cooperate.
After all, “People and goods are now literally stuck trying to move on transportation networks first developed nearly 70 years ago,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
There’s plenty of work to do in Washington state:
▪ In the 6th congressional district, represented by Rep. Derek Kilmer, a Democrat, there are 1,288 bridges. Fifty-six, or 4.3 percent, are rated as being in poor condition.
▪ In the 9th District, represented by Rep. Adam Smith,a Democrat, there are 1,661 bridges and 63, or 3.8%, are rated as poor.
▪ In the 10th District, represented by Rep. Denny Heck, a Democrat, there are 791 bridges, and 25, or 3.2% are rated as poor.
Those figures were compiled last year by the road builders’ group, based on the Federal Highway Administration data.
The state’s poor rating, developed by the FHWA, does not mean the bridge is unsafe for travelers or in danger of collapse. State bridge inspectors have authority to immediately close or limit heavier vehicles on any bridge they find to be unsafe for travel during inspections
There’s long been agreement in Washington, D.C., that thousands of bridges urgently need fixing. The 2018 data found 47,052 bridges, or 7.6%, were rated as poor.
The centerpiece of the House Democratic plan is a $329 billion five-year outline that would not only repair roads and bridges but take steps to reduce pedestrian and bicyclist deaths and dramatically increase the availability of vehicle charging stations.
The plan has no details of precisely what bridges could be fixed or when. Trump is expected to unveil his new budget Monday and committees plan hearings in the weeks ahead.
Republicans also are vague about specifics. Their tone is similar to that of Democrats — “fixing and improving the Nation’s core system of highways and bridges” is crucial, said the GOP plan.
Republicans are somewhat more precise in pledging to remember the needs of rural communities and stress that the current system that’s supposed to fund highway projects, fuel taxes, “is not a long-term solution.”
The current federal tax of 18.4 cents a gallon for gasoline and 24.4 cents a gallon for diesel fuel has not gone up since 1993. Most federal government spending on roads and mass transit comes from the federal highway trust fund.
The Senate is a step ahead of all this. Last year, its Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously approved a 27% increase in highway and bridge spending.
To expedite the projects, it would streamline the federal regulatory process, which includes a review of the environmental impact. Trump Tuesday urged passage of the Senate plan.
The disagreements over these provisions are polite, and all the key players maintain that they can swiftly find common ground. After all, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, “Everybody is affected by this.”
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