[03/13/03]The Vicksburg Bridge Commission has reported spending $1.3 million since July on the U.S. 80 Mississippi River bridge, addressing a shifting pier that could point to more serious problems.

No money went toward fixing the deteriorating roadbed that closed the span to cars and trucks in 1998. The county-owned bridge, operated as a business, remains open to rail traffic.

Bridge superintendent Herman Smith also said Wednesday that gaps between sections of the roadbed could indicate a bigger problem. Commission members voted to rent special equipment and authorized engineers to inspect under the roadway.

“It’s serious. Apparently the main piers moving toward Louisiana are pulling the highway apart,” said commission Chairman Max Reed.

Most of the $1.3 million was spent on engineering costs and work done to repair two concrete supports under the bridge that had been shifting toward Louisiana for years. Now that shifting may be the cause of a 3 1/2 inch gap between two sections of the roadbed near the Mississippi side.

Smith said the gap above Bent BH, the second support under the roadway from the east bank, is not designed to move and that bolts and rivets that are supposed to hold it in place have broken.

Bent CH, the third support, is an expansion joint, but has been stretched to its limits. Engineers theorize that the westward shifting of the piers has also been pulling the roadway away from the Mississippi bank and have recommended that no heavy trucks cross that section of the bridge.

Smith said railroad officials have also reported a slight shift down river in the tracks that could be due to the movement of the span. Commissioner Ray Wade, a former railroad employee, said the movement in the tracks could pose a danger to the trains that cross the Mississippi River here if it continues.

“If the highway is coming apart, then I would think it’s affecting the railroad, too,” Reed said.

Engineers with HNTB of Baton Rouge say they want to use a “snooper” truck that will allow a person to be lowered under the roadway from a truck to investigate the problem. They have also recommended a comprehensive inspection of the bridge.

The last detailed inspection was in 1987 and cost $500,000.

Engineers stopped short of calling for repairs needed to the gapping roadway an emergency, but said it should be done immediately. “If one of those (sections) was to slip off I’m not sure what the domino effect would be,” said commission member Bob Moss.

Since 1997, Pier 2, the second support after the railroad tracks and roadway converge, has shifted nearly 6 inches toward the west. Repairs were made this summer, and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is investigating the cause of the shifting after a similar problem was discovered with the Interstate 20 bridge.

The U.S. 80 bridge also experienced sinking in Bent ER, a steel support under the railroad tracks that does not support the roadway, which was also recently repaired.