Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Bridge inspections
Bridge inspections, crane
Bob Sevedge and Chad Kincheloe inspect the underside of a bridge as part of regular evaluations to access the conditions of bridges around Whitman County.
The Whitman County Public Works department is near the midpoint of its annual bridge inspections.
Work evaluating about 200 bridges per year on one and two-year inspection cycles began in October by County Bridge Supervisor Bob Sevedge and assistant Chad Kincheloe, engineering technician.
The two now work exclusively on bridge inspections – often in waders, standing in creeks – until the list is complete in mid-January, or early February. The report for each bridge is due in March, to be sent to the Washington State Department of Transportation .
Sevedge and Kincheloe also evaluate 38 miscellaneous bridges owned by other entities such as towns and the Palouse Empire Fairgrounds – which has two bridges.
What they look for is mostly seen by the naked eye: structural cracks, distress, settlement, rust, corrosion, leaching and exposed re-bar. The two men compare what they see with notes from the previous inspection.
“Just because something has cracks in it doesn’t mean there is a problem,” said Mark Storey, Public Works director. “You look for changes.”
Sevedge and Kincheloe inspect four to six bridges per day.
If they find serious degradation, it may call for radiography of steel, ground penetrating radar or other action.
Storey and Sevedge are each licensed bridge inspectors, having taken a two-week federal bridge inspection training course, for which they are re-tested every five years. Kincheloe is an apprentice, in the process of becoming licensed.
Cost to inspect bridges in Whitman County each year is estimated at $80,000 to $100,000.
“The county is watching out for its citizens,” said Storey. “It’s one of those things we spend money on that nobody knows about.”
The county charges a city or other entity $200 to $400 to evaluate a bridge.
A total of 390 bridges are under county jurisdiction, 24 wood, one steel bridge and the rest concrete.
The one steel span is the Sherman McGregor bridge at Hooper.
Whitman County spends an estimated $80,000 - $100,000 each year inspecting bridges, including the Rosalia South Bridge. Workers use a rented UBIT – Under Bridge Inspection Truck – which the county rents from the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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