BALTIMORE - Engineers inspecting the Bay Bridge following this month's deadly crash found corroded steel within the concrete barriers on the eastbound span, necessitating a costly repair job and lane closures over the next several weeks.
That prompted officials this morning to warn holiday travelers to avoid the span this holiday weekend.
The right lane of the eastbound span will be closed for two to three weeks and the speed limit will be dropped to 40 mph while crews complete temporary repairs.
Crews will attach steel L-shaped brackets to secure the concrete walls to the deck. Guardrails also will be attached to the walls.
This is a temporary fix that will cost $3 million, state transportation officials said.
"The Bay Bridge is safe for motorists," said John Porcari, state secretary of transportation.
The closure of the right eastbound lane means that span is down to one lane. The westbound span has three lanes and can be configured to carry eastbound traffic.
But officials still advised traveling north of Baltimore and around the top of the Chesapeake Bay to reach Eastern Shore and beach destinations this weekend.
"Safety is our No. 1 priority and we are going to move ahead with this," Mr. Porcari told reporters this morning.
The jersey wall reinforcement will only be a temporary fix."These repairs we are doing are not permanent," said Geoffrey Kolberg, chief engineer.
The inspections were the result of a deadly and dramatic crash on Aug. 10 in which a truck crashed through the barrier and ended up in the bay. The driver was killed.
The corroded steel was found using "ground penetrating radar" and was not visible, officials said.
Transportation officials are trying to get a better handle on the scope of the problem and they're developing a permanent fix.
"We haven't quantified the exact amount of the corrosion," Mr. Kolberg said.
Bridge safety was thrust into the national spotlight last summer, following the collapse of the Interstate 35 Bridge in Minnesota.
Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration emphasized the need to bring more money into transportation projects, and was successful in getting new tax revenue to bolster the state's moribund transportation trust fund.
Bridge scores range from 0 to 100, and the bridge that fell in Minnesota was rated 50. Both spans of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge were rated at 65.1 in February 2007, and the Maryland Transit Authority was confident then the bridge was strong.
