By james art 
Due to the widespread structural deficiencies, the Eckert Road bridge will require complete elimination and replacement, said ACHD director Ryan Head.
Boyz, Idaho – This story originally appeared in Idaho PressS
The regional commissioners of the Ada County County on Friday unanimously approved an emergency suspension of the Eckert Road Bridge, citing a study published on Friday, which found a “severe deterioration” on the bridge east of Barber Park. Due to the widespread structural deficiencies, the bridge will require complete elimination and replacement, said ACHD director Ryan Head.
According to the national inventory of the bridge, the bridge of wood-column was originally built in 1957. The decision to close comes after the launch of a conceptual survey on Friday morning, which “widespread to severe decay, which affects the load capacity of the bridge”, Head of the head, a leader told a special meeting of the ACHD Committee.
The impact study found that this breakup was present on 22 of the 48 pillars on the bridge and the central pier of the bridge; Five of the six piles – pillars driven into the ground to maintain the bridge – are considered “in strong decay”. With this finding, it is recommended to limit weight by three tonnes, not much more than a passenger vehicle, Head said.
“As a result (of) the difficulty in imposing this, we do not believe that this is acceptable and we recommend complete closure of the bridge at that time,” said a manager. “We do not believe that this is in the best interest of the area and the safety of the public to leave the bridge open and to risk any kind.”
With the past emergency measure, ACHD employees will be directed to “start and accelerate all the work of replacing the bridge.” ACHD staff will pass along a conceptual design and immediately into the design of a replacement bridge over the Boyz River, although there is still no time line available for how long it will take the bridge to be removed, designed and replaced, Head said.
The leader said that communication was initiated between Ada’s County Commissioner Rod Beck and Boise Mayor Lauren McLean to begin coordinating as soon as possible on the impact on emergency services. Additional correspondence will be made with the affected schools to contact the school bus service in the area, Head said.
The Idaho Transport Division is responsible for the verification of bridges, which ends every two years. The last in -depth study, similar to the announcement on Friday, was five years ago and had a “severe deterioration” after the previous rating, Head said.
Commissioner Dave McKini, citing his last job, carrying out bridge inspections for the state, said he was “struck” by how sudden the problem had manifested. The bridges usually receive an estimate of the bridge inspection on a scale of 0-100. When this number falls below 50, checks every two years change to annual inspections.
“I can understand things that sneak if there is a certain flood event or other conditions (this) can dramatically change things,” McKini said. “In the same way, there may be conditions that may not be obvious during a check that are obvious during the next one … Something somehow fell through the cracks here to sneak on us.”
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