Norman Must Make Costly Repairs on Aging Bridge

Holes break through an aging overpass in Norman.  Crews repaired two holes found on the Main Street Bridge over I-35 Monday morning, costing the City of Norman $20,000.

"Its the kind of thing we try to avoid but also we have no choice. We can't shut the highway down. We can't close Main Street for days or weeks on end. We have to go to this kind of expertise and do it very quickly and with that comes additional cost," said Shawn O'Leary, the city's Public Works Director.

O'Leary said the problem has popped up once or twice a year for the past several years.

"This is a whats referred to as a floating bridge deck. So, literally a thickness of concrete that we're driving on, below that is a sound structure. The bridge structure is not in danger but the bridge deck is very old and like old concrete is just begins to deteriorate and literally this was a hole that you could see through to the interstate below," O'Leary said.

O'Leary blames the holes the cold weather and the age of the bridge.  The Indian Hill overpass just a few miles north on I-35 was built around the same time and faces the same problems.  O'Leary said both are about 50-years-old.

"Both of them have exceeded their useful life actually probably years ago in reality and they just need to be replace. There's really no alternative to that," he said.

Both bridges are being replaced.  Work on Main St. started at the beginning of the month and should be completed by March 2014.  Its part of a $35 million project on the interchanges.

The city has an contractor on-call for road emergencies.  The holes were found Sunday evening, and repaired by noon on Monday.
Norman Must Make Costly Repairs on Aging Bridge

Posted: Tuesday, January 22 2013, 10:10 AM CST