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# Officials call for bridge safety reviews after Minnesota collapse
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/080407-story-20070804/
- Published: 2007-08-04T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T02:31:31.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Government & Politics, Venice, #archive-import

our bridges, highways and other infrastructure are matters of life and death,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, who called on Congress to create a national infrastructure commission.

County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said Thursday that he will ask the Board of Supervisors next week to have county engineers boost their efforts to review the county structures’ soundness.

Los Angeles Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents Venice and parts of West Los Angeles, joined with Councilwoman Wendy Greuel in introducing a motion calling for the Department of Public Works and the Department of Transportation to provide a status report on the city’s bridges and the programs that exist to repair, retrofit and maintain them.

Officials from Santa Monica could not be reached for comment Friday because City Hall was closed, part of the city’s “Trip Reduction Program.”

California has about 12,500 state-owned and 12,200 city-or county-owned bridges, according to federal data. Of those, about 1,700 state-owned bridges have some structural deficiencies.

Structural deficiencies indicate an element of the bridge or overpass needs repair, although it’s not necessarily unsafe for traffic. Failing said the majority of California problems are minor issues, such as paint or potholes.

There are about 2,300 bridges in Los Angeles County, according to Failing. Federal data show that about 280 of those bridges are considered “structurally deficient.”

In November, voters approved a $19.9 billion bond measure that will help fund transportation infrastructure projects throughout the state. Of that amount, $125 million has been allocated for bridge seismic retrofits and $750 million for road and bridge repair.

Such assurances did nothing to calm the fears of some drivers who use the Incline and Pier Bridge on a regular basis.

“You know how slow government works,” said David Crisp, who lives in Malibu and takes the Incline each day to get to work in Downtown Santa Monica.“They may say it’s OK now, but by the time they make repairs, the condition could change dramatically. Then where are we?

“We need to think hard about what’s important, and our roads and bridges should be up there at the top of the list, especially in Los Angeles, where we are so car dependent.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 4, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/080407.pdf?ref=smdp.com)