HomeMy WebLinkAbout800762.tiff • .,
7SCOLORADO STATE DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS
AIL
184"•
November 25, 1980
Mr. Norman Carlsen, Chairman
Board of County Commissioners
Weld County
P. 0. Box 459
Greeley, CO 80631
Dear Mr. Carlsen:
The Department of Highways has prepared this letter to inform you of the status
of the Off-System Bridge Inventory and Inspection Program, and advise you of the
procedures to be used for signing of load posted bridges and the procedures for
selecting bridges eligible for Federal Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation
Funds.
STATUS OF THE PROGRAM
Forty-six counties and forty-eight municipalities with approximately 3,500 bridges
are participating in the program. The participating entities are grouped into
twenty-four separate contracts distributed among nine consulting firms. Four coun-
ties, with prequalified staffs, elected to do their own inspection. We will be
soliciting support from the remaining seventeen counties again in the near future.
We presently have inspection reports for 1,200 bridges submitted to the Department,
and are in varying stages of the final approval process. Our revised goal is to
have the inventory, inspection and rating completed, and final reports approved
for all entities by June 30, 1981. Critical bridges in urgent need of repair are
being reported directly to the concerned entity by the consultants. Recommendations
are based on preliminary reports, so that early steps may be taken to repair or post
load limits on affected structures if desired. All entities were notified which
consulting firm is doing their work, but if the consultant is unknown to you, Mr.
Ronald Akin of the Department of Highways, 757-9338, can provide this information.
Final reports will be presented to you at a pre-arranged time by representatives
of the Department of Highways (Staff Bridge Branch) and the consultant responsible
for the work. They will at that time present a summary of the structures, the
condition of each along with posting recommendations and sufficiency ratings.
CONTRACT BILLING TO ENTITIES
Contracts between the Department of Highways and the individual entities all pro-
vide for monthly billing for the twenty percent entity share. It has been the
policy of the department not to exercise this provision and we do not anticipate
any entity billing before early 1981. Individual entities cannot be billed even
though the work in your contract is completed until all entities combined in the
consultant's contract are approved and accepted, and final charges are calculated.
80076-
4201 EAST ARKANSAS AVENUE DENVER, CO 80222 (303) 757-9011 SD
✓ - i2I �I
Page Two
November 25, 1980
BRIDGE REPLACEMENT
Each bridge will have a calculated sufficiency rating, based on structural con-
dition, traffic, minimum detour length and many other factors. Bridges with a
sufficiency rating less than fifty will be placed on a deficient bridge list,
and will be eligible for Federal Highway Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation
Funds. It is anticipated there will be many more bridges eligible than there
are funds available. The salection of the bridges to receive federal replace-
ment funds will be made by the Special Highway Committee of Colorado Counties
and the Colorado Municipal League, with the lower sufficiency ratings receiving
highest priority.
We anticipate providing the Special Highway Committee with a partial list of
deficient bridges by January 15, 1981, and supplementing it as additional bridge
inspection final reports are completed.
All request for replacement or rehabilitation funds must be made to the Special
Highway Committee who will administer all distribution of funds. Contact staff
member of the Special Highway Committee for additional information:
COUNTIES: Colorado Counties, Inc.
Mr. John Tomsic 861-4076
1500 Grant Street
Suite 301
Denver, CO 80203
MUNICIPALITIES: Colorado Municipal League
Mr. Alex Brown 421-8630
4800 Wadsworth Blvd.
Suite 204
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
SIGNING OF LOAD POSTED STRUCTURES
Structures found to be inadequate for the state legal truck weights are recommended
for weight restriction signs (load posting) . The Special Highway Committee has au-
thorized the use of Off-System Highway Bridge Replacement Funds for the manufacture
and installation of these signs.
The Department of Highways is in the process of requesting approval from the Federal
Highway Administration for the following procedure which has been approved by the
Special Highway Committee:
(a) Signs and posts will be furnished by Colorado Department
of Highways using Off-System Federal Bridge Replacement
and Rehabilitation Funds.
(b) Local entities will pick up the signs in Denver and install
them at the proper locations which will constitute the local
entity matching funds.
Page Three
November 25, 1980
You will receive further information on this signing program after you have re-
ceived your final approved inspection reports.
Each of the topics obviously could not be discussed fully in this letter but if
additional information is required, you may contact Department of Highways,
Staff Bridge Branch, 4201 East Arkansas Avenue, Denver, CO 80222, Attention
Mr. J. E. Siebels, Staff Bridge Engineer. Phone Number 757-9309.
Very truly yours,
E. N. HAASE
Chief Engineer
By ���
J. E. SIEBELS
Staff Bridge Engineer
JES:RRA:vn
Hello