An inspection report on the U.S. 80 bridge over the Mississippi has been OK’d by the Vicksburg Bridge Commission without the updates wanted from the author of the annual study.

In the five-member panel’s hands since January, the report for 2008 rated the bridge “good to fair” overall, but mentions problems with connecting joints on the superstructure that commissioners said have been repaired. Another issue was work done in the past two years on the unused road deck on the west approach, on the Louisiana side.

HNTB, which has drafted the report for several years and provided advice on engineering matters, cut jobs and rotated assignments earlier this year. Among the cuts was Baton Rouge-based senior technical adviser Rudy McLellan, with whom the commission had worked for years and was a key contributor to the annual report.

Attempts to contact officials with the company’s Kansas City office had failed, leaving the commission to accept the report as written and concentrate on emphasizing updates for next year, said Herman Smith, bridge superintendent.

Though the firm remains the commission’s primary contact during emergencies such as barge hits, legal work continued this month to nail down a contract with Baton Rouge-based G.E.C. to act as a backup group in case of emergencies on the river that affect the bridge, such as barge hits.

The commission heard a presentation by the company last month helmed by McLellan, hired as a structural adviser shortly after his departure from HNTB.

G.E.C. is the engineering firm of record for the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, between suburban New Orleans and communities north of the lake.

*

Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com