I found this article. It sounds like there is a mathematical model (obviously a ruse by liberals) used to score bridges. The bridge is built on fill. There are many instances of spalling and exposed reinforcing steel.
Magnolia Bridge in 'intolerable condition'
Even after repairs, there will be structural deficiencies
Friday, June 8, 2001
By GEORGE FOSTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The Magnolia Bridge was rated in "intolerable condition" years before the Feb. 28 earthquake buckled its braces. And the span will end up in basically the same condition -- even after a $3 million repair job to be completed this summer, city engineers say.
That's because the city has enough money only to repair new damage -- not to overcome structural deficiencies responsible for the bridge's poor rating.
For example, the bridge "could have come down" in a stronger quake, said Kurt Jones, who is heading the emergency repairs. And the bridge, built on fill where the wetlands of Smith Cove once extended, will still be vulnerable to severe shaking when it reopens by Aug. 2.
The span will be safe enough to sustain its average weekday load of 18,600 vehicles, but cracks, chips and deterioration will continue to require maintenance, said Richard Miller, director of roadway structures for Seattle Transportation.
COMPLETED: 1930; expanded 1958.
OVERALL LENGTH: 3,008 feet.
REPAIR AREA: 1,100 feet.
TRAFFIC: 18,600 vehicle trips weekdays.
The bridge's ongoing problems don't sit well with the Magnolia community, which has endured two long repair-related closures in the past four years.
"I think it should be replaced immediately," said Keith Butts, a Magnolia Hardware Store employee, adding that his confidence in the bridge has changed since the quake.
And Jose Montano, a retired architect and past president of the Magnolia Community Club, said it's time to pursue "another means of access" to the neighborhood, preferably a new road linking the bridge extension to Thorndyke Avenue West.
The current emergency repairs, financed partly by the Federal Highway Administration, cover only earthquake damage.
Similarly, a $4.7 million fix four years ago merely addressed damage from a January 1997 mudslide. That project, which closed the span for four months, included repairing the bridge's footings and building a retaining wall to prevent more slide damage.
City officials say a new bridge is needed in the next 10 to 12 years, but it's tough finding the $60 million to $80 million to build it.
Since 1992, the bridge has been inadequate to barely adequate for moving traffic across the lowlands separating Queen Anne Hill and Magnolia, a Post-Intelligencer review of bridge inspection records found.
Between 1992 and 1996, data fed into a complicated structural appraisal formula turned up a rating of "3," meaning "basically intolerable condition requiring a high priority of repair," according to the ratings under the National Bridge Inspection Standards.
From 1997 on, the bridge received a rating of "4," described as "meeting minimum tolerable limits to be left in place as is."
But Miller said yesterday the bridge's condition did not actually change between the "3" and "4" ratings. He attributed the difference to a quirk in the computing of data.
He also said the word "intolerable" is misleading when applied to the 3,008-foot Magnolia Bridge.
"It's not the word we would have chosen," he added. "We have (maintenance) programs to take care of the worst problems. We would not have a bridge open if we didn't feel it was safe."
Bridge inspectors adhere to national bridge standards developed by the Federal Highway Administration. Prescribed data, such as substructure, deck and other superstructure conditions as well as traffic and vehicle weights, are programmed through a standard formula.
The inspection sheets since the early 1990s mention extensive cracking and spalling -- the chipping away of concrete -- sometimes severe enough to expose reinforcing steel.
An inspection report in May recorded 85 cracks and 116 cases of spalling up to five feet in length where reinforcing steel was exposed. That's not unusual for a bridge of that length and age, said Miller.
He added that the structural rating system "tries to take into account all conditions ... but we do not always agree with the conclusions."
Harvey Coffman, the state's bridge preservation engineer, agreed with Miller that a "3" rating does not necessarily mean the bridge is unsafe. "It depends on the circumstance of the structure and what they have programmed" for repairs or replacement, he added.
Still, the Magnolia Bridge is one of two larger bridges the city is continually concerned about, Miller said. The other is the approach to the Fremont Bridge, built in 1917. In both cases, the city has held off seismically retrofitting the spans because building new structures would be more cost-effective than refurbishing the older ones.
Miller noted that the Magnolia Bridge is exposed to "one of the harsher environments" -- a prevailing south-to-southwest wind off Puget Sound carrying corrosive salt. This salty air, he added, hastens deterioration of concrete and steel reinforcement.
The bridge was constructed in the late 1920s and helped to open for development what was then the sparsely populated "Magnolia District." Until 1960, it was called the Garfield Bridge.
In the late 1950s, an extension of the bridge was built over 15th Avenue West and has received higher ratings for structural soundness than the 1930 bridge.
Westbound traffic on the bridge must now exit at the ramp for the Elliott Bay Marina. Through traffic must detour around Dravus Street.
The entire bridge was originally due to reopen for traffic by Aug. 2, but Seattle Transportation spokeswoman Marybeth Turner said yesterday it is expected to reopen earlier.
REPAIRING MAGNOLIA BRIDGE DAMAGE
The Feb. 28 earthquake damaged support column braces along a 1,100-foot stretch of the Magnolia Bridge. It will cost $3 million to repair the damage, which has closed the bridge to vehicle traffic for the last three months. The bridge is scheduled to open in August.
Support column cross section
Steel rebar beams within the braces stretched and buckled -- breaking through their concrete casing -- when the bridge swayed during the quake. The braces are being replaced and reattached to the support columns with metal cuffs.
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At any rate, this seems to be quite an elaborate hoax. A large number of engineers are involved. And of course, these projects are costing the taxpayer billions of dollars in wasted tax money. So, I hope to see those links as quickly as possible, so we can prosecute the thousands of people who are pretending to believe our bridges and other structures are inadequate just because they were built, as in this case, seventy years ago. Here is the link. There are some good pictures and drawings (obviously faked and retouched, of course). Some of you will want to have your tin foil hats on when you click:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/26591_magnolia08.shtml