Bridge Safety Under Council's Microscope

More than a month after a bridge in downtown Minneapolis collapsed, the City Council is poised to take a close look at the safety of the city's spans.

Council Member John Liu of Queens, the chairman of the Transportation Committee, said safety concerns about the city's bridges had became significant, especially after revelations that the Brooklyn Bridge was considered structurally deficient under federal standards, but not so under state standards.

"The goal of the hearing is to call on the agencies to explain what procedures or efforts are in place for assuring the safety of public bridges and New York City," he said. "It's all a question of how the various agencies at different levels of government are coordinating with each other."

The city's transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, and representatives from the state's Department of Transportation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey are expected to attend a hearing on bridge safety scheduled for Monday.

At a basic level, Mr. Liu said he wants to understand why the federal and state standards do not match up.

The Senate voted on Monday to spend about $6 billion on bridge repair, which would bring New York an additional $100 million to fix its aging bridges, Senator Schumer said yesterday, the Associated Press reported.

The bill must be negotiated with leaders in the House before a final vote by all lawmakers, the AP reported.

A council member of Queens who is chairman of the Finance Committee, David Weprin, is introducing a bill later this month to create a commission to study the city's aging infrastructure, he said.

The commission would include appointees selected by the mayor, the council speaker, the comptroller, and the public advocate. More than 2,000 bridges in New York State are considered "structurally deficient" under the federal rating system.