Starke County Highway Department officials recently stated that the results from phase one of bridge inspections displayed that the overall bridge health in the area is excellent compared to some other places throughout the state.
According to representatives, within the last five years, the county has developed a bridge maintenance plan to keep them in good condition.
Starke County’s two deficient bridges will be replaced this year which will bring the sufficiency rating up from 3.3 percent to zero – a major improvement compared to a decade ago.
The Department shared that, at that time, about 40 percent of bridges in the county were deficient and approximately 50 percent were “load-rating posted,” which is a precaution that is taken when certain stresses could pose a danger to the structure.
Crews have been out cleaning bridges and culverts and looking toward the future, they’ll be sealing bridges this fall. This type of maintenance is done in order to keep the county’s bridges among the best in the state.
Click the following link to see the Highway Department’s social media post about the topic as well as some additional statistics, such as a bridge inventory and state comparisons
