County engineer weighs in on Stretch Island Bridge

County officials say the Stretch Island Bridge is in better shape than a group of island property owners claim.

Mason County Public Works deputy director and county engineer Michael Collins told the Herald Stretch Island Bridge is not "structurally deficient" and that term is no longer used in describing structures.

"Bridges are rated as Good, Fair, or Poor. Stretch Island Bridge is rated Good," Collins said in an email.

The Stretch Island Property Owners wrote a letter lamenting the state of the bridge to the Transportation Improvement Program Citizen Advisory Panel.

"We are distressed to learn that our bridge is structurally deficient. We are already suffering additional expense for concrete deliveries due to the posted load restrictions. During the last king tides we were cut off from the mainland due to water and logs covering the west approaches. This is a dangerous situation as access by fire, EMT, school buses and trash trucks is not available until the water recedes and the debris removed," Glenn Carlson, SIPO facilitator, wrote.

Island resident Bob Pastore said the letter was read at the TIP-CAP meeting in April, with Collins in attendance, and he never corrected the deficient claim.

Every bridge in Mason County is inspected bi-annually, including the Stretch Island Bridge.

To qualify for federal replacement funding, bridges must have a deck, superstructure or substructure condition code of 4 or less, according to Collins.

"The current ratings for these categories are as follows. Deck overall is coded a 7, the Superstructure overall is coded a 7 and the Substructure overall is coded a 7. There are some minor defects but overall, the Stretch Island Bridge condition is Good," Collins said.

"Another way to qualify for federal replacement funding is by using Waterway Adequacy rating where the bridge would have to be coded 2 or less. This means occasionally or frequently overtopping the deck and road approaches with severe traffic delays. The current coding for Waterway adequacy is an 8: Bridge deck above roadway approaches. Slight chance of overtopping roadway approaches," according to Collins.

Stretch Island Bridge's load restrictions have been in place since 2015, Collins said.

"The restriction is not because of defects in the bridge," Collins said, but because the original design didn't account for single-unit vehicles with seven axles, such as concrete trucks.

"Commissioners appointed a citizen advisory board, TIP-CAP, to review and make recommendations on the TIP to commissioners before they adopt late September. Citizens such as the Stretch Island Property Owners can provide input to both TIP-CAP and county commissioners, and of course Public Works, during the annual review and adoption process," Mason County Director of Public Works Loretta Swanson told the Herald in an email.

SIPO members said an independent inspection of the bridge is needed.