Tom Carper Highlights Infrastructure Weaknesses: Many U.S. Bridges ‘Lack Functional Peer Protection’

3 months ago

On Wednesday, Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) questioned infrastructure officials on infrastructure weaknesses during a Senate Environment and Public Works during a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing.

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00:00Administrator Bott, General Spellman, as we discussed earlier, the Key Bridge is only

00:09one of many bridges in the United States that lack functional pier protection. That list

00:15also includes bridges near major ports like New York, like Philadelphia, like New Orleans.

00:24Administrator Bott, what is the Federal Highway Administration doing to better protect the

00:29bridges across our country that still lack adequate pier protection? I have a follow-on

00:35to that, but just to start with that. What is the Federal Highway Administration doing

00:39now to better protect bridges across our country that still lack adequate pier protection?

00:45Thank you, Chairman Carper. Obviously, it's an incredibly important question. We have

00:48been in close contact with AASHTO, the American Association of State Highway Transportation

00:53Officials, just to get a better understanding of how many bridges have exposure to vessels

01:00of this size. We are making them aware of all of the funding opportunities, both in

01:06the formula and discretionary grant programs. I will say the bridge improvement program

01:13is obviously oversubscribed. We do have a funding shortfall, so it's both identifying

01:19the needs that are out there and then finding funding priority to address those needs. We

01:26are going to continue to work closely with the NTSB as they provide their recommendations

01:30as to what the appropriate level of protection. As you know, there were dolphins on this bridge,

01:34but were not successful in protecting the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

01:39Thank you. General Spellman, looking back on the disaster water, some of the major safety

01:46measures that the Corps would recommend taking while the Federal Highway Administration and

01:52Congress work together on addressing this safety concern?

01:55Yes, sir. I think we will take the lead of the National Transportation Safety Board.

02:01As I mentioned, their report that they released in mid-May, the bulk of that report talked

02:05about the vessel and the electronics, but there is a section in the back on bridge safety

02:10and resilience against collisions that we had here. Everything from fendering and larger

02:17and more dolphins, those are the large concrete cylinders that you saw during your visit that

02:21we anchor into the bottom of the river to protect those important piers. I think as

02:26we do what we call our Section 408 reviews for new bridges and navigation channels, that

02:32we in the Corps have to take a harder look at those safety measures and work with our

02:36State and Federal partners to make sure that they are, in fact, implemented.

02:39Okay. Thank you.

02:41Secretary Whittefield, a question I quoted on air quality impacts, and the question is,

02:52last month when we met with Governor Moore, who I must say is a very impressive leader,

02:57and I had several opportunities to meet with him, very impressed. But when we met with

03:03the Governor, with the Lieutenant Governor at the site of the bridge collapse, during that

03:09meeting we discussed, as you may recall, may recall, some of the impacts that the bridge

03:14collapse may be having on people who live in the surrounding communities, impacts including

03:20trucks, a lot of other vehicles that have been rerouted through people's neighborhoods.

03:25We talked about the effect that that can have on congestion, the effect that it can have on

03:30safety. I would add probably the effect it can have on air quality. We also discussed

03:36the potential for increased air pollution from the trucks that serve the port. My question is,

03:40what is the State of Maryland doing to monitor and, if necessary, mitigate the effects of

03:46increased truck traffic through the neighborhoods close to the port?

03:50Yes. Thank you, Senator. We are working directly with the local governments,

03:55being in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Anne Arundel County,

03:57which you get the immediate community impacts, to make sure we're monitoring any truck traffic,

04:02policing it where they should be and where they shouldn't be, and then working with the

04:07community to deal with their basic transportation needs because the inability just to get across to

04:12another part of the city and the county without the short path of the bridge. So we're working

04:18with that. We're working with our Transit Administration to look at opportunities there,

04:22as well as Travel Demand Management. We're also working with the Metropolitan Clean

04:26Organization to monitor the air quality and with our Maryland Department of Environment

04:30to monitor that. Obviously, that goes eventually into the State implementation plan on the air

04:36quality side. But if there's any immediate hot spots, in effect, so that we can address those.

04:41We've been very successful with the trucking community, obviously, to make sure they

04:46understand the implications of that and to work with us. And so that has been working very well,

04:51and we'll continue those efforts. Very good. Just a follow-up question,

04:56is there any assistance that you and your colleagues need from the federal government

05:00to address air quality impacts resulting from the traffic effects?

05:03Not at this time. Again, I think the open communication that we're having with the

05:09community, meaning both the people that live in the area, the businesses that are dependent upon

05:14the highway system in that area, the trucking, the port, as long as we keep those lines of

05:18communications open, I think we can keep tackling these issues head on.

05:22Senator Capito, would you like to go next or yield to Senator Ricketts?

05:26Yeah, I'll yield to Senator Ricketts.

05:27All right, thanks. Senator Ricketts.

05:28Thank you very much, Senator Capito.

Tom Carper Highlights Infrastructure Weaknesses: Many U.S. Bridges ‘Lack Functional Peer Protection’

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