• Aprill Brandon •
• Originally published July 30, 2008 at 11:32 p.m., updated July 30, 2008 at 11:32 p.m.

In 2006, the Texas Department of Transportation listed the number of deficient bridges in the state. In Victoria and the surrounding counties, approximately 150 bridges made that list.

Since that time, local counties have been working aggressively to improve deficient bridges in the area, Yoakum district engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation Lonnie Gregorcyk, said.

“The 11 counties I cover have been very aggressive and have really tried to get as many of the deficient bridges fixed as quickly as they can,” he said.

Although he didn’t have exact numbers on hand, Gregorcyk added that many bridge projects have been undertaken in the past few years, both on the county road system and off.

In 2006 in the Yoakum district, which includes Calhoun, DeWitt, Gonzales, Jackson, Lavaca, Matagorda, Victoria and Wharton counties, 134 bridges were deemed deficient. Out of that total, 116 were deemed functionally obsolete and 18 were deemed structurally deficient.

In the Corpus Christi district, which includes Goliad and Refugio counties, 15 bridges were deemed deficient, with 13 being deemed functionally obsolete and two being deemed structurally deficient.

According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, structural deficiencies are characterized by deteriorated conditions of significant bridge elements and reduced load-carrying capacity.

Functional obsolescence is a function of the geometrics of the bridge not meeting current design standards. Neither type of deficiency indicates that a bridge is unsafe.

According to the National Bridge Inventory, four local bridges were also deemed in serious condition, critical condition or in danger of imminent collapse. Those bridges are as follows:

DeWitt County-Twelve Mile Creek Bridge: substructure rating listed as in danger of imminent collapse.

Wharton County-West Bernard Creek: superstructure rating listed as critical condition.

Karnes County-Salt Creek Bridge: superstructure rating listed as critical condition, substructure rating listed as serious condition.

Karnes County-Draw Bridge: superstructure rating listed as critical condition, substructure rating listed as serious condition.

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