TOOELE COUNTY, Utah — Some Utah residents recently noticed wooden beams propped against a bridge over Interstate 80 near Grantsville, sparking some curiosity and concern.
A viewer alerted FOX 13 News to these beams, approximately four inches by four inches in size, supporting overpasses for both westbound and eastbound traffic on I-80.
However, the Utah Department of Transportation says the bridges are not being structurally held up by the beams.
"The wooden beams are a temporary bracing for pavement preservation work that we're doing on top [of the overpass]," said Ryan Elorreaga, a resident engineer with UDOT. “To the common public... this might look a little funny.”
The beams went up this summer to support the barriers — the concrete guardrails on the overpasses’ sides — because lanes in each direction have been stripped for an I-80 repaving project.
"In reality, the concrete of the structure is doing all the heavy lifting on the on the barrier... This is there just for added safety measure," Elorreaga said. "It's absolutely not for the structural integrity of the bridge itself.”
These overpasses, constructed in 1972, handle about 14,000 vehicles in each direction daily. When asked about the risk of the bridge collapsing, Elorreaga assured, "No, absolutely not."
Christopher Higgins, a structural engineering professor at Oregon State University, weighed in on the unusual sight.
“I didn't know what they were trying to do with [the beams], but they certainly couldn't carry very much load," he said.
Higgins said multiple factors go into a decision whether to replace or refurbish a bridge, including how much weight is on it, the environment, and whether winter salt is corroding it.
"There's lots of different ways that we can rehabilitate bridges to improve their safety by adding additional reinforcing," he said, “And that's the key right is there should be no unsafe bridges on our networks.”
Around the wooden beams, you can see exposed rebar and concrete that has moved at the foundation. But Elorreaga said an inspection last year found the overpasses in fair condition.
A few weeks ago, FOX 13 reported on some of the worst bridges in Utah — one in Eden and another in Sandy. But believe it or not, these I-80 overpasses aren’t on that list.