Bay Bridge reopens for day travel

Emergency repair of barriers is completed ahead of schedule

The great Bay Bridge nightmare is over - for now, at least.

The Maryland Transportation Authority said yesterday that it has completed emergency repairs to the eastbound span more than a week earlier than its chief engineer predicted last week.

That allows the state to end the round-the-clock lane closings begun Aug. 26 after inspectors found corrosion in the bolts that anchor concrete barriers to the deck of the bridge. The barriers serve as the span's walls.

For many commuters - particularly Eastern Shore residents who were deprived of a vital eastbound lane during their evening commute home - the reopening means relief from backups that in some cases lasted more than an hour and a half.

Overnight lane closings - from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. - will continue through Friday morning for some follow-up work. But Kelly Melhem, a spokeswoman for the transportation authority, said no round-the-clock or peak-hour lane closings are planned for the foreseeable future.

The corrosion was found during inspections conducted after a fatal crash Aug. 10 in which a tractor-trailer broke through a concrete barrier on the right-hand lane of the eastbound span and plunged into the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari ordered that lane closed immediately for emergency repairs.

Similar corrosion, which had gone undetected during the bridge's annual inspections, was found along the span's left lane as well. The eastbound span is the original bridge, which opened in 1952.

To find the corrosion, inspectors used ultrasound and ground penetrating radar, techniques that go beyond the visual inspections routinely done.

Last week, Gov. Martin O'Malley ordered the Maryland Department of Transportation to conduct a review of the state's bridge and tunnel inspection procedures by a national panel of experts.

A state senator who has been pressing for an independent inspection of the bridge called O'Malley's response positive but said it "misses the point."

"The urgency does not lie in finding out what is wrong with the inspection process. The urgency lies in finding what is wrong with the bridge," said Sen. E. J. Pipkin, a Republican from the upper Eastern Shore.

Pipkin said residents have become increasingly skeptical of the transportation authority's assurances that the bridge is safe.

"The governor has tried to change the subject by ordering an evaluation of the state's bridge and tunnel inspection process. To me and thousands of bridge users, the subject remains the stability and safety of the Bay Bridge," Pipkin said.

Pipkin argued there is an urgent need for an "independent, nongovernmental" inspection, but the transportation authority maintains that what the senator is calling for is already being done.

Melhem said the annual inspections are done by independent consulting engineers rather than state employees. She added that stepped-up inspections in the aftermath of the crash are still under way - with outside consultants performing the work.

At the time the findings were announced, the state transportation department estimated the repairs - described as a temporary fix - would take 10 weeks. Last week, chief engineer Geoffrey Kolberg revised the estimate down to about four weeks. With the completion of the repairs and the reopening of the left lane about 11 p.m. Sunday, the authority completed the task in just less than three weeks.

Melhem said the work was finished in time for yesterday's morning commute even though work had to be suspended Friday night and Saturday as Tropical Storm Hanna passed through. She credited the swift repairs to a "24/7" response by contractors, metal fabricators and authority inspectors.

"In doing the left lane, we also had the learning curve and experience from doing the right lane," she said.

She said the authority still plans to make permanent repairs to the barriers but has not decided on the design. She said the authority plans to conduct that work at night, with no closings during peak travel hours.