Resource Road Bridges in Rough Shape
Thursday, March 6, 2014 @ 4:08 AM
Prince George, B.C. The Forest Practices Board is calling for immediate action to deal with the number of unsafe bridges on Forest Service Roads.
In a special investigation, the Board set out to determine if new bridges were safe for industrial use and if the environment ( water, soil and fish) were being protected.
The investigation looked at 216 resource road bridges throughout B.C. and the results are startling.
- 15 percent of bridges were not safe and sound, meaning there were obvious safety issues
- Generally, ministry-built bridges on forest service roads performed well while the "Other" category (small licensee) showed below average performance
- incomplete plans for 40 percent of bridges.
- one-third of bridges did not have a professional seal of approval in the form of a crossing assurance statement.
- In 36% of the bridges, designers did not consider the ability of a bridge to pass the expected peak flow of water
- No approach logs or approach flares to direct traffic onto bridge deck prevent vehicles from dropping off road prism edge.
- Stress fractures on I beams,
- Rotten decks ( photo at right of rotten bridge deck courtesy Forest Practices Board)
- Deck panels that have shifted because they are not attached to the girders
- No guard rails
The Forest Practices Board says the issue isn’t one of lack of rules and regulations, rather, that the rules and regulations are not being followed.
Comments
They are just finding this out now? How long has it been since the last audit? The FPB doesn’t check that bridge building meets standards?
Somebody’s dropped the ball here, it seems.
There was a time when the Ministry of forest staff over saw bridge construction and maintenance and approval of a cut blocks depended on results but now their gone and industry looks after it
Ah yes, industry …aka, the private sector ….
Left unaudited, the private sector operates total regard for safety at all times …..
Where are the engineers on this one who design the bridges in the first place …. or do they??
I wonder how much that bridge with the rotten deck gets used and by what weights of vehicles.
Looks like there was no concrete used in the abutment of the bridge in the top right photo. A quality house carpenter would know better than to build something like that or jerry rig something like that after the bridge may have shifted.
I wonder if they will ever do an audit of the thousands of miles of industrial and forestry roads to see how much they have fallen into substandard, unsafe condition, or even built that way in the first place.
We are seeing one of the reasons why driving to and from forestry work sites is one of the most dangerous activities for anyone working in the woodlands sector.
oops … that should have read:
“Left unaudited, the private sector operates with total disregard for safety at all times …..”
Distracted driving, dangerous levels of dust in sawmills, rickety bridges…some headlines of just a few days – it looks like there is an unstoppable virus going around.
Reduced taxes means reduced revenue means reduced supervision and services. If reduced taxes is good, then Central America is a good place to live and work.
So true Steve,again the banks tax share has dropped by 18% and are they investing in Canadian business no their investing off shore so were is the benefit for us to pick up the loss? welcome to Harppana previously known as Canada
Humm Does the report mention where the bridges of concern are or the ‘private sector’ responsible for these bridges? don’t want to go over these on my Sunday afternoon drive looking for some free fuel or a few windows to shoot out!
Gus – “Left unaudited, the private sector operates with total disregard for safety at all times…” – bit of a generalization here?
Steve Cooley – “Reduced taxes means reduced revenue means reduced supervision and services” – are your taxes spent on forestry roads?
They should just look at deactivating as many of these as possible. I’m sure many of them have served their purpose, and now they’re just a liability.
It is staggering to think how much infrastructure the government (aka taxpayers) are on the hook to maintain.
That’s what happens when non union contractors are used to build important infrastructure.
“Left unaudited, the private sector operates with total disregard for safety at all times…” – bit of a generalization here?”
Yes, in some ways, Iwonder, but just because not all in the private sector act in the best interest of the workers and the general public where their facilities impact the public as well.
1. Two recent mill explosions, and several smaller explosions/fires over a much longer period.
2. Not putting in best available technology to reduce pollutants released to the air.
3. not building forestry roads to reasonable standards and certainly not maintaining them to standards.
Hyperbole draws attention sometimes … :-)
JB, the bridge with the rotten deck certainly looks like it would be on a deactivated road. The small portion of road visible has no weeds growing in it yet, so it does not look like it is deactivated.
If it were, the bridge itself should have barriers placed on it, not that a chainsaw carried by most woodland operators would not get through it unless they use a heavy steel section as the barrier.
A million dollar bridge should not be required for temporary access to a cut block. However, temporary bridges should be removed when the cutting and hauling is done.
If a bridge is planned to be left in place for any length of time, say more than one year, it should be engineered, and equipped with abutments, flared approaches, and at least a low guardrail. Regular inspection.
All bridge inspections should be the responsibility of government,in my opinion.
metalman.
Forestry companies self monitoring.. Fail.
Dragonmaster states “That’s what happens when non union contractors are used to build important infrastructure”!
Gee, I’m so glad that the Queen of the North was being operated by highly paid and highly trained Union members!!
The union members on the bridge were in the process of creating the next generation in order to keep the dues flowing when the ship struck the island. The dog must have had the night off.
When some roads are decommissioned a trench is dug across where it branches off the main road, culverts are removed etc. Have seen places where people have made temporary crossing over these obstructions to allow quad access.
Standards? We don’t need no stinkin’ standards.
I dont know what everyone is so worried about…
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/projects/319053d1369355859-log-bridge-roads-corduroy-road-plankroad.jpg
“They should just look at deactivating as many of these as possible. I’m sure many of them have served their purpose, and now they’re just a liability.” .. one of the arguments and conditions for a lot of areas that are logged is the added benefit they public gets access to new recreation areas. Some side roads into blocks should be deactivated, but major, or once were major, roads such as north fraser, beaver, etc should be maintained for both recreation access and fire access. The more roads that are left to access the back country the quicker forest fire crews can get into a fire zone.
“Gee, I’m so glad that the Queen of the North was being operated by highly paid and highly trained Union members!!”
“The union members on the bridge were in the process of creating the next generation in order to keep the dues flowing when the ship struck the island. The dog must have had the night off.”
————————————–
Seeing how you like to compare apples to oranges in your anti union crying, how do you explain the Hindenburg disaster or the Titanic disaster. Both non union fiasco’s. I guess those involve did indeed have their dogs at their sides.
Huh: “one of the arguments and conditions for a lot of areas that are logged is the added benefit they public gets access to new recreation areas.”
Great, but that access comes at an ever increasing cost to the taxpayer to maintain these structures for the recreational user, let alone the liability issue.
People seem to have a low tolerance for tax increases and paying for this kind of stuff, which is why I made my original comment.
One of the reasons that these roads are taken out of service is to prevent one of the main causes of forest fires from entering:people. When lightening does start a fire the first attack would likely be with a helicopter even if the road was still intact. If road access does become necessary a bailey could be brought in.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
For those who may not know what a bailey is, you’re welcome. Sorry don’t know how to make the link active, you’ll have to type it.
metalman.
your wrong jb. some of us like to get out away from naysayers, kind of like yourself. DONT haveaproblem if some of my taxes go towards forestry rds. not all of us do our hunting in a martini glass looking for the olive
I once had to take a barge-ferry to work across Otsa Lake that had holes big enough to swallow up a small car. One had to have a spotter to direct the truck around all the holes in the deck of the barge. On the sail across the lake you could see the trees in the bottom of the lake through the holes in the deck lol. Sometimes that’s forestry folks.
My concern with the forestry roads isn’t so much a bridge with a bad deck, but more rather I am concerned with the blind corners that physically can’t fit passing traffic. Sometimes its just luck of the draw when one or both directions are not using a radio.
@CrysBaron/Ice: Clearly, not enough has been going to the roads if the bridges are falling into disrepair. I have to agree with ewitt, since people are the main cause of fires, it’s probably not a bad thing to deactivate roads that are no longer needed.
The Baily Bridge was developed during World war II by British Army Engineers. One of these bridges can be run across say the Willow River in a matter of hours. They can be built up to carry a army Jeep or a Sherman Tank.
Cheers
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