Oklahoma DOT started bridge inspections within minutes of recent 5.0 quake

Updated Nov 15, 2016
An ODOT crew uses a boom to inspect underneath a bridge in southwestern Oklahoma. Photo credit: ODOTAn ODOT crew uses a boom to inspect underneath a bridge in southwestern Oklahoma. Photo credit: ODOT

Oklahoma Department of Transportation crews began bridge inspections within 15 minutes of a recent earthquake, according to a report from The Ponca City News.

The quake struck Payne County, just west of Cushing at 7:44 p.m. November 6. Just before 8 p.m., ODOT crews had begun visually inspecting 110 state highway system bridges within a 30-mile radius of the earthquake’s epicenter and found no damage.

ODOT also assisted county and city officials by inspecting two local bridges in Cushing, finding no damage.

Oklahoma highway bridges are designed to withstand some vibration, and several of the highway bridges closest to the earthquake’s epicenter had recently been replaced or rehabilitated as part of the state’s efforts to reduce the number of structurally deficient bridges in Oklahoma.

Earlier in 2016, ODOT revised its earthquake inspection policy after concluding that 4.6-magnitude and less earthquakes were not causing any damage to highway bridges, so state bridge inspectors only respond to earthquakes ranking at 4.7 magnitude and higher.