Report shows state bridges need work
When the Associated Press went digging into records documenting the condition of bridges across Illinois, it made two significant findings:
• That detailed records are hard to come by. In the name of national security, many documents are off limits to the public.
• That nearly 2,500 bridges across the state are structurally deficient and that more than 1,500 of those have structural scores worse than the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed in early August, killing 13 and injuring many more.
The latter point -- the poor condition of Illinois spans -- is, at bottom line, more important than the former. Still, the difficulty AP encountered in obtaining detailed bridge-inspection reports does raise questions.
In declining to release detailed inspection reports, the Illinois Department of Transportation cited concerns about terrorism. A member of the Illinois Terrorism Task Force wrote a letter stating that "Release of information related to vulnerabilities at a specific location could compromise the security of that bridge."
No one wants to compromise national security or carelessly provide openings for terrorists -- all Americans are acutely aware of that as the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks approaches.
It's fair to ask, though, whether prospective terrorists are as intent on exploiting specific weaknesses in the nation's infrastructure as they are on identifying weaknesses in processes and procedures -- such as airport security prior to Sept. 11 or lax port inspections even today -- that render the U.S. vulnerable.
Granted, few people are clamoring to check out detailed and arcane bridge reports that often require specialized knowledge to understand. It's just that secrecy surrounding any records that normally would be considered public information should occur very rarely and only if secrecy truly is vital to national security interests.
As for the condition of Illinois bridges, the AP study indicates ample cause for concern. Every county in the Daily Herald's coverage area has structural deficiencies in at least 8.3 percent of its bridges. That's the figure in Kane County. Elsewhere, the AP found that 9.2 percent of bridges in DuPage County are structurally deficient, 9.6 percent in McHenry County. The figures are 10 percent in Will, 11.4 percent in Cook and 16.4 percent in Lake.
The presence of structural deficiencies does not mean that a bridge is hazardous; it means that the bridge could use some work in one way or another. But the sheer number of structurally deficient bridges in Illinois is testimony, again, that this state has fallen behind in maintaining its infrastructure and needs to take steps to catch up sooner rather than later.
Along those lines, the AP bridge stories should be mandatory reading for state legislators as they try to decide whether they can agree on a capital construction program for Illinois.