Flawed inspections putting bridges at ‘heightened’ risk
No evidence they’re unsafe, but also none that they’re safe: NDP
Alberta’s bridges and culverts are at a heightened risk of failure due to a lack of consistency in the inspection system, Auditor General Merwan Saher warned Thursday in his latest report.
While Saher found no evidence any of the 4,400 bridges and culverts under provincial jurisdiction are unsafe, he recorded several deficiencies in how inspections are carried out, monitored and followed up, and noted the government has extensively used inspectors with lapsed certifications.
The report also noted Alberta Transportation is receiving about a quarter of the funding it needs to replace aging bridges, compensating for this shortfall by closing bridges or reducing the weight allowance for trucks using them.
“We’re saying to government, ‘Look, you have a well designed system, so use it,’ ” Saher said. “In my language, the risk of unsafe bridges is heightened, and I’ll add another word on the end — unnecessarily.”
Transportation Minister Ric McIver said there is no reason for Albertans to lose confidence in the safety of provincial bridges. He said his department has already made substantial progress in fixing the issues Saher’s office identified.
“We saw the drafts of the auditor’s report before it became official and we took action right away.”
But opposition parties jumped on Saher’s findings to suggest the government has put Alberta motorists and $6.7 billion worth of infrastructure at risk.
“The auditor general was clear that he has no evidence that they are unsafe, but what he didn’t say is that he doesn’t have evidence that they are safe,” NDP Leader Brian Mason said.
“They need to increase the amount they are putting into ensuring our bridges are wellmaintained. That’s something we have to take very careful care of, or we will end up in a situation like they had in Montreal, where they had catastrophic failures with people getting hurt and killed.”
Liberal Leader Raj Sherman said the government needs to learn the value of prevention.
“If you don’t do your inspections, you are going to end up with a major problem that will cost you much more down the road, not only in terms of money, but also in terms of reputation and safety.”
The 4,440 structures referred to in Saher’s report include 1,000 major bridges and 600 standard bridges, such as highway overpasses, river crossings and railway crossings. It does not include bridges managed by municipalities but would include bridges on Anthony Henday Drive in Edmonton, which is under provincial jurisdiction.
Also on the list are 2,800 major culverts, which are used to manage water flow under roadways.
Saher’s report makes nine recommendations to Alberta Transportation.
Among them, it suggests the department show more diligence in ensuring bridges are inspected properly and on time. The auditor found that in the central region, near Red Deer, 150 inspections were done more than a year after they were due, yet this lateness was not identified by the department. As well, 15 pedestrian bridges in various regions were not inspected at all because they were considered low risk.
In general, the department’s information systems record inspection results, but fail to track the progress of followup actions ordered by inspectors, such as increased monitoring or repairs.
The report noted that in each of the last three years, 15 per cent of the maintenance budget was left unspent, even though there was a list of work still to be done.
“The system doesn’t have that oversight to ensure the right actions were taken,” Saher said.
Saher also found that in the 2010-11 year, about 900 of 1,700 bridge inspections were done by contractors lacking proper certification.
McIver said all inspections were completed by qualified people, but some had neglected to renew their credentials.
“They all have now, I can assure you,” he said. “That’s a piece of discipline we have put back in place.”
Among his other recommendations, Saher said Alberta Transportation should collect more information on how much time is spent on each inspection and how many are done each day, to determine the effect on quality. In one case, an inspector who did eight inspections in one day missed 26 maintenance issues, the report said.
In addition, Saher suggested the department more regularly use spot audits to gauge the performance of contract inspectors, install a process to improve poor performance, and analyze whether the use of contractors is cost effective.
The final part of the report dealt with money, as Alberta Transportation has said it needs $900 million over the next 10 years to replace bridges. The province is currently funding $25 million a year, so the department has covered the shortfall by closing bridges or lowering the maximum weight load for trucks.
Saher said the department needs to provide better information to Treasury Board on the need for increased funding.
“There is an obvious discrepancy,” he said. “In our view the decision making could be improved if the full extent of the department’s information on bridge structures was made available.”
McIver said he appreciates the auditor’s warning about the need for adequate budgeting.