Officials inspect Lynn bridge

LYNN – Passing motorists were straining to see why divers were slipping over the Buchanan Bridge railing into the water Friday morning.Several divers and an inflatable boat from MassHighway were on hand inspecting the bridge on Route 107.According to Executive Office of Transportation Spokesman Adam Hurtubise, the bridge, which runs over Glenmere Lake, is undergoing a routine bridge inspection.”It is a routine inspection,” he said. “The inspection includes a complete underwater inspection. (Yesterday) should (have been) the last day of diving.”According to the EOT, the Bridge Inspection Unit has an underwater operations unit that performs underwater inspections of bridge members for all bridges over water in the state where some of the members can only be accessed by diving. The unit has five full-time divers, supplemented by 20 part-time divers drawn from MassHighway engineers who have passed a comprehensive in-house dive-training program.According to the EOT, the state bridge inspection program is more stringent than the federal program, which requires a visual inspection every two years. MassHighway requires a full, hands-on inspection of all bridges every two years. Bridges in poor condition are inspected every six months to a year.Bridges are rated based on the condition of their deck, substructure and the superstructure above the deck. According to Hurtubise, if any one of those three sections is given a rating of four on a scale of one to nine, the entire bridge is deemed structurally deficient.Hurtubise said he isn’t aware of any issues with the Buchanan Bridge but he also noted the inspection is not complete yet.