COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A man was injured Tuesday when a piece of concrete fell from a bridge. Is there danger elsewhere?
The concrete fell from the Hudson Street bridge and smashed the windshield of a pickup truck below on Interstate 71.
The Ohio Department of Transportation Bridge Engineer Bob Taylor examined the area surrounding the bridge Wednesday where the concrete fell.
The bridge was inspected in October and received a 5 rating out of a possible nine.
It was built in the 1960s and eventually, it will be replaced.
The bridge is structurally sound, but ODOT compared it to a cake in which some of the frosting has fallen off.
ODOT said the concrete fall was likely caused by the record recent snowfall and the freezing and thawing that has occurred this winter.
But, the Hudston Street bridge is by far not the worst in Franklin County.
The Dodridge Street bridge over the Olentangy River is worse.
Franklin County Bridge Engineer James Pajk said the Dodridge Street bridge is rated a 4 -- lower than the Hudson Street bridge.
There are approximately 1,400 bridges in the county, including state, county and city-maintained structures.
Seven of the county-wide bridges are rated low.
By hitting the bridge with a hammer, crews can determine what's rotted and what's not.
"One of the simplest things to check concrete is to just hammer away. If you get a real kind of high ping sound, it means the concrete is very sound," Pajk said.
There are tension wires that have rotted through and parts of the 100-year-old base have separated.
"Over time, there may have been some settling that's taken place that causes these stones to separate from each other. It's something that is not posing any serious problems, but we have to rate the bridge down because that's there," Pajk said.
The bridge on Dodridge Street will be replaced next year, but engineers said they feel it will be OK until then.
ODOT also said it has confidence in the Hudson Street bridge, adding that in the last 24 hours, engineers determined the structure is safe to travel both over and under.
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