9-30-13 bridges in need of repair

State transportation officials have placed about 60 Wisconsin bridges in danger categories that
indicate the structures have designs that make them more vulnerable to failure and are deteriorating.  An Associated Press review of the latest records in the National Bridge Inventory found some  7,795 bridges across the country have been classified as both "fracture critical" and "structurally deficient," a combination of red flags that experts say is particularly problematic.  Fond du lac County Highway Commissioner Tom Jahnke says there are a number of bridges in the county that fall into those categories.  "There are a number of facture critical bridges and that doesn't necessarily mean that the bridge itself is in any danger of failing,"  Jahnke said.  "Fracture critical basically means that there's a component, that if one of the girders would fail, the whole bridge fails.  There's no redundancy in the structure.  That's not uncommon in certain designs."  Jahnke says the major issue when it comes to repairing the bridges is funding.