El Paso Street Bridges In Need Of A Makeover?
EL PASO, TX. – Reinforcing an El Paso bridge is just now getting underway after months of lane closures.
Work on the Fred Wilson Overpass betweenU.S. Highway54 and Marshal is scheduled to wrap up on October 15th. “I worry about it a lot,” said Bart Kennedy, a board member for the Cielo Vista Neighborhood Association. While the Fred Wilson bridge is out of his jurisdiction, he works in the northeast and is concerned about the bridge’s integrity.
“The orange barrels are there because we’re being told the outside lanes are not safe for traffic and my concern for everybody who lives in the city and uses this bridge is how safe are the inside lanes as well,” Kennedy added. An official with the Street Department toldABC-7 the barriers went up sometime last year, not in Juneas was first given last week. A city engineer says the pads between the bridge surface and the supports are wasting away.
Essentially, the top part of the bridge is resting on the concrete columns… With nothing in between. Construction to fix it started two weeks ago. As of 3:30 in the afternoon,nobody was working on the bridge. Employees at the El Paso Chile Company say the last time they saw a construction workeron-site was Thursday.
“This is an out of town contract and we are monitoring his schedule. He’s supposed to have this project completed by October 15th,” said Samuel Rodriguez, the city’s Division Manager of Engineering.Rodriguez said the cracks in the bridgewill be taken care of when the project is over. He adds, for now, the bridge is safe. As long as the project is done on time.
An official with the city Street Department said the Fred Wilson bridge will only stand for another three years. After that, it will be torn down as part of the Loop 601, or Inner Loop, project.
